College football's forgotten rivalry: Revisiting Washington's 2000 upset over mighty Miami

Its impossible to find two power-conference college football programs farther apart geographically than Miami and Washington.

They have faced each other only three times, but the Hurricanes and Huskies have a unique bond.

Before they ever squared off, they split the 1991 national title, with 12-0 Miami crowned by the AP poll and 12-0 Washington getting the nod from the coaches poll.

Advertisement Then, in 1994, Washington traveled to Miami as a 14-point underdog and snapped the Hurricanes NCAA-record 58-game home winning streak.

The Huskies 38-20 win became known as The Whammy in Miami.

What no one couldve imagined when No.

4 Miami visited No.

15 Washington in 2000 was the impact that game would have on both programs, particularly the Hurricanes, who were looking for revenge but maybe got something bigger from the showdown in Seattle.

Marques Tuiasosopo, Washington QB, 1997-2000: I dont think either side liked sharing the national title.

Then, they go to Miami and beat them and end their record home winning streak.

From our side of things, we knew they still wanted to make amends for that, and they still had that chip on their shoulder from 1990.

It was a big deal.

Larry Tripplett, Washington, DT, 1997-2001: I remember the speech (UW defensive line) coach (Randy) Hart gave before that game.

I think it was the Thursday before the game.

He talked about the history of Husky football and the tradition.

He was coaching back when they had the Whammy in Miami and showed the video of that.

I remember feeling like this game was much more than just a game, that it meant a lot for Husky history, that I wasnt just playing for myself, I was playing for the guys who were in that Whammy in Miami and all the guys who ever wore the purple and gold.

Rick Neuheisel, Washington coach, 1999-2002: Miami was so star-studded.

You needed to know where (safety) Ed Reed was at all times.

Their corners were fabulous.

Their receivers were Reggie Wayne and Santana Moss, and (Jeremy) Shockey was the tight end.

Their third-string running back was Clinton Portis.

James Jackson was the starter.

They had Najeh Davenport, and (Willis) McGahee was the guy who didnt get to play.

They were phenomenal.

Advertisement Brent Myers, Washington OL coach, 2000-02: They jumped off the film when we watched them, especially (linebacker) Dan Morgan.

Tuiasosopo: We knew it was gonna be tough, but we thought we were good too.

I dont think anyone knew who we were, though.

We knew we had to put up a fight.

We knew we were gonna have to scratch and claw and be more physical.

Tripplett: Our meeting room was in the tunnel, so when they were coming out pregame, they were barking and yelling and totally disrespectful.

This was told to me, and I dont know if it was actually true, but Id heard that some of their players had urinated on the middle of our field.

The amount of disrespect and swag that they came in there with was off the charts.

Tuiasosopo: They tried to intimidate us.

They knew we liked to do a lot of barking.

I remember in the pregame, walking down the tunnel, and a couple of their guys were walking up and they would just yelp, like a whupped dog.

I just thought, OK, these guys dont know what theyre walking into.

They were making fun of us, and we didnt like it.

That kind of set our jaw a little bit.

That pissed us off.

We knew they didnt respect us.

Tripplett: They were very arrogant, but they had every right to feel very confident.

But I know this, that before that game, you could look in our guys eyes, Tui, Jeremiah Pharms, Pat Conniff we all had this look like, no words needed to be said.

We just knew what we were about to do.

I felt that way.

One of the beautiful things about football is the team aspect, and we all came together.

One other similarity between the two programs: They each had iconic home stadiums known for raucous atmospheres.

Husky Stadium, with its overhanging roof on each side of the field, held the highest recorded decibel record for a college stadium for over 30 years.

It was set in 1992 against Nebraska at 133.6, a record that stood until 2023 when Tennessees Neyland Stadium registered 137 dBs against Georgia.

But to the players on the field on Sept.

9, 2000, Husky Stadium or any other football stadium never sounded any louder.

And considering the Canes quarterback, Ken Dorsey, was making his first start on the road, that made a big difference.

Advertisement Tripplett: It was deafening.

Dude, it was so crazy loud.

I felt as if Miami was really shell-shocked as far as how loud it was and how aggressively we were playing.

Joaquin Gonzalez, Miami, offensive tackle, 1997-2001: Its the loudest place Ive ever played, college and pros.

The two overhangs on either side of the stadium, it was just this bellowing and a resonating sound.

If you look at the first part of the film, the offensive line was late off the ball.

Bryant McKinnie and I were late off the ball quite a bit early on, even though we had practiced a silent count and all of that.

It was hard to even get the play calling in from (QB Ken) Dorsey.

The very next year, we opened up at Penn State against a record-setting crowd (109,313), and we didnt freaking bat an eye.

That place was pretty freaking loud, but not as loud as that (Husky Stadium).

Mike Rumph, Miami, cornerback, 1998-2001: We had never been to the West Coast before.

We all were like, in awe, like, Holy s, were on West Coast.

Were like, All those fing mountains in the background.

We never seen no mountains and no hills.

They got Mount Rainier, like a fing snow cap in the backdrop.

So, not saying we werent focused, but we were really impressed with the fact that were on the West Coast, and we had never been there before.

We werent fully locked in.

Gonzalez: I didnt expect the game to be as difficult as it was.

Not from a football standpoint, but from all of the other stuff, having to travel the six hours and the time change.

The impact of traveling out there, the stadium conditions in terms of the noise and stuff.

You live and you learn.

Tuiasosopo: Husky Stadium was electric that day.

When our defense was on the field, it was like an earthquake.

Rumph : Its my top five loudest places, honestly.

And I played against the Seattle Seahawks as a Niner.

Advertisement Tripplett: I probably had a very ignorant confidence.

When I played in Husky Stadium, I used to feel like Superman.

Im gonna be honest, I felt invincible there, so I was not intimidated by them at all.

Thats just the ignorance of youth I guess.

Rich Alexis, Washington, running back, 2000-03: Neuheisel was just cool.

He was just being Neuheisel.

Very encouraging.

Just smiling.

Hes got a pretty smile, nice hair, he was just ready.

He felt confident.

I dont know why.

He probably knew something we didnt know.

We took his lead, and then everybody was just calm and cool.

Because if the coach would have spazzed out or freaked out, I think everybody would have got that message too.

But that day, he was just chill.

Miamis defense handled Washington on its first series, but the Huskies responded by forcing a turnover on the ensuing punt return.

Tuiasosopo: One of our guys puts his helmet on the ball, and Santana Moss coughed it up.

Then, we went down and scored.

We were gonna need plays like that, and it happened.

Alexis: There was a bad rep about the West Coast teams that we were soft, werent physical enough.

That fumble on the punt return set the tone.

Washington was determined to lean on its seasoned offensive line and Tuiasosopo, its star QB.

A year earlier, Tuiasosopo had run for 207 yards and passed for 302 against Stanford.

Miami coach Butch Davis compared him to former Syracuse first-round pick Donovan McNabb, who had gashed the Canes in 1998 for 99 rushing yards to lead an attack that ran for 318 yards in a 66-13 victory for the Orangemen.

The Huskies and offensive coordinator Keith Gilbertson also had a few surprises prepared for the Canes vaunted defense.

Tuiasosopo: Coach Gilbertson made sure that we had a wrinkle to take advantage of.

We put that weakside mid-line option in.

I think we held that back for them.

Advertisement Myers: We were an I-option offense.

They werent overly multiple on defense.

They were so athletic, they didnt have to play many defenses.

Greg Schiano was their DC.

Miamis had always been known as a 4-3, quarters team, but Schiano had some good third-down blitz packages.

Hes a really good defensive coach.

But they didnt face many option teams.

Back then, Syracuse was an option team, a little like us.

We studied them quite a bit.

The Huskies werent running all over Miami, but Tuiasosopo was moving the ball.

He led them on a nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that he capped off with a 12-yard run on an option keeper that featured three broken tackles.

He later connected with Washingtons standout tight end Jerramy Stevens for a 23-yard TD pass to give the Huskies a 21-3 halftime lead.

Myers: We did a lot of motion from the backfield to empty and threw the ball on them because we knew what they would check to.

Our empty passing game was really effective in that game.

We knew they would check to two-deep, so we threw option routes to Jerramy Stevens and Joe Collier and Willie Hurst, our tailback, who would be a slot receiver in our formation.

It was very effective for us.

I didnt recall seeing Miami play against much empty back in those days.

Neuheisel: We hit a touchdown on an unbalanced scheme, and we had post-post-wheel and hit the wheel.

It was good stuff.

Rumph: They kept running the speed option.

They found the wrinkle.

They ran the speed option weak against us, and we couldnt figure it out because they kept pulling the guard with the twist.

We were one man short a lot.

I remember that adjustment.

Tripplett : Tui was doing Tui Magic.

He just makes stuff happen.

And he was our leader.

He was the type of leader that everybody on the team would run through a wall for.

That year, we just knew as long as Tui was out there, we had a chance to win, and it proved to be true because we had some crazy comebacks that year.

Advertisement Alexis: The guy just had swagger about him.

Just calm, cool.

It doesnt matter what the moment was like.

He would just be himself, calm, cool, just a born leader out there.

Hed make sure everybody was not nervous.

He was like that consistently all year.

Those Samoan boys are different, man.

Rumph: He was a real good quarterback.

He could run, he could throw.

He was physical.

Gonzalez: We basically played like s for a half.

Santana fumbled, Dorsey fumbled.

One of our other running backs fumbled as well.

We had a field goal blocked.

We definitely didnt start great.

Miami woke up in the second half.

The Canes scored their first of three third-quarter touchdowns on a 21-yard pass from Dorsey to Wayne, but the Huskies answered when Neuheisel inserted Alexis, a true freshman running back from South Florida, and called an option play with the ball at midfield.

Alexis: I didnt even know if I was gonna get in the game or not, but Neuheisel told me he wanted to just throw me in the game so my parents could see that Im doing well.

He threw me in the game, and Im looking at Dan Morgan.

Im like, dang, everybody I looked up to was against me.

I wanted to be a Hurricane all along.

It came down to Miami and Washington.

Neuheisel told me if I came out there, Id play running back.

He needed a big running back.

Miami was already loaded at running back.

You got James Jackson and Clinton Portis.

Me and Willis McGahee were in the same recruiting class.

Greg Schiano wanted me to play safety.

The only thing I knew how to do is just run the football.

Myers: We called 43-veer.

That meant offensive tackle Elliot Silvers was to release inside and veer through to the first backer in the box, which would be the weakside backer, and they had taken their defensive ends and put them head up on the tackles.

On the second or third series, we went to that arc option part of the scheme (reading Miamis defensive end) so that we could get their defensive end to tackle (fullback) Pat Conniff.

And, if he didnt, then Conniff was to get the ball in the option, and we wouldnt end up pitching the ball.

Elliot is a really, really smart kid.

Their guy was really squeezing down.

Elliot and (guard) Chad Ward said to me, Coach, we need to arc this stuff because we cant get through.

We ended up optioning the safety, the corner was being blocked and we went right down the sideline.

It was awesome.

Advertisement Tuiasosopo: The option kept them on their heels and off-guard.

It was gonna be a quick pitch.

I got nailed.

I was lying on the ground, but I saw him get around the corner and make that first guy miss, and I looked at their end who was on top of me and I smiled.

Thats a touchdown! Alexis: I really didnt think he was going to pitch it.

I went to the left with him, till he dove in with a quick dive, and he just pitched it to me, and I just took off.

I couldnt believe I made the touchdown.

I mean, I was just in shock.

You watch the replay, I froze.

I didnt know what to do.

I was holding onto the ball.

I didnt even know how to celebrate.

I just ran by Mike (Rumph), the late Al Blades, I saw all these guys, and I couldnt believe I just scored.

I was just so overwhelmed with joy.

Washington led 27-9 with a little over six minutes remaining in the third quarter, but Miami started to heat up offensively as Portis broke some big plays and Morgan recovered a Tuiasosopo fumble to set up another UM touchdown to make it 27-22 with 3:50 left in the third.

Washington, though, never wilted and kept responding.

On defense, Tripplett was a menace.

He had two sacks, blocked a field goal and recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter.

Miami had one last chance to rally, getting the ball back with 20 seconds left at their own 20 down 34-29, but Dorsey couldnt rescue the Canes.

Neuheisel: We ended up beating them because we played some slight of hand with some option and had some decent concepts to trick them in the red zone.

We were able to run the ball against them some, which not very many people could.

Gonzalez: I think if we have probably eight to 10 more seconds at the end of that game, we win it.

There was a moment in that game where things kind of just started clicking.

Rumph: They had like 800 recruits there, and their head coach looks at us as were leaving the field, and he goes, You dont want to go play there.

You want to play here.

You dont want to go to Miami.

Play here.

I vividly remember that.

And as we exited through that tunnel, their players were barking at us.

We were actually trying to fight them a little bit, but they were barking.

Gonzalez: It was just a s-y situation to start the season.

When you start off the season, you have all of these hopes and aspirations for all of these big things that youre going to do.

You never want to start off, in any sport no matter if youre playing Pee Wee or whatever you never want to start off 1-1.

More so in college sports at that time, one loss in any part of your season meant that you werent a contender anymore for the national championship.

You fast forward to the end of the year, and we get screwed, even after beating Florida State head to head.

Because of us, really, thats why they changed the BCS.

Miami finished the regular season 10-1 with wins over No.

1 Florida State and No.

2 Virginia Tech (by 20 points), but those were the Canes only wins over ranked opponents.

Washington also went 10-1, with its lone loss coming at Oregon, three weeks after beating UM.

The Huskies also had just two Top 25 victories, with their other win over No.

23 Oregon State.

The Noles ended up getting the title shot against No.

1 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, even though the Canes were ranked No.

2 in the coaches and AP polls.

They were ranked third in the BCS.

Advertisement Delvin Brown, Miami, DB, 1997-2000 : What happened that year that people dont remember is Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech had a game that was canceled because of lightning.

Lee Corsos car got struck by lightning, and because Virginia Tech didnt play Georgia Tech, our strength of schedule was actually weak.

If we would have had a stronger strength of schedule, even despite our loss to Washington, we would have played in the national championship game.

The good news is we still got to put a spanking on Florida (in the Sugar Bowl) that year.

That was the year we fought them on Bourbon Street.

Alex Brown ended up being a first-round pick for Chicago.

We beat him up in the bar.

He was in the postgame with a black eye.

Gonzalez: I remember walking out this white painted tunnel with pictures of Washington greats all around, in pain with my fing ribs, and just fing sitting there and saying, All this fing work wasted.

But I think that sparked the fire in us.

To get slapped in the fing face the way that we did by Washington, it could have been very easy for us to go the other way.

How did that become the turning point? Its hard for me to kind of verbalize.

I just think that we had all worked so hard that we werent going to let that define us.

We really busted our ass that summer.

UM had always had the offseason workouts.

The test for stamina was always 16 110s.

Thats what you had to run to make sure that you were ready for the season.

If you didnt, you had to run it every day until you passed it.

But that offseason was the first offseason that the guys on the team said, No, 16, is not good enough.

We gotta run 20 110s now.

Then, my senior year, we said, Its not 20 anymore.

Its 24 110s.

Davis left the Canes after the season to become the Cleveland Browns coach.

Offensive coordinator Larry Coker was promoted after Miamis veteran leaders, who had opted to stay in Coral Gables, lobbied the schools AD, Paul Dee, to make that move for continuitys sake.

The Canes opened the 2001 season at Penn State and destroyed the Nittany Lions, 33-7.

They pounded Rutgers 61-0 with the rematch against Washington, who had beaten No.

11 Michigan, up next.

But then 9/11 happened.

Like most games that weekend, it was postponed.

The game was tentatively rescheduled for Thanksgiving weekend, when both schools had open dates.

Advertisement Neuheisel: We had just beaten Washington State.

We were beat up.

We were 8-2.

I told (Washington AD) Barbara (Hedges), Barbara, just tell them that well do it another year.

We dont need to go.

She said, Oh, we have to.

I said, No, we dont.

Other people have turned it down.

Well play em another year.

We went and got waxed.

Myers: I can remember sitting in the staff room and Rick was adamant about not playing that game because we didnt need to.

A lot of people around the country werent replaying that game theyd missed early in the season because of 9/11.

Rick was not happy about it.

In addition to beating Michigan, Washington had defeated No.

10 Stanford and No.

9 Washington State.

Miami had blown out No.

13 Florida State on the road and beat No.

15 Syracuse 59-0.

The Canes and their fans were primed for the Huskies.

Myers: As soon as we got down there to the Orange Bowl parking lot, they were throwing oranges at our bus.

The fans were ready for us.

That was crazy.

Tripplett: They were throwing oranges at us.

Little kids were giving us the finger.

They were really pissed at us.

On the second play of the game, Miami linebacker Jonathan Vilma intercepted Washington QB Cody Pickett.

Miami needed one play, a Portis run, to score its first touchdown.

In the next series, UW went on a 15-play drive.

Alexis broke a 31-yard run up the middle to the 2, but the Canes stiffened and stuffed four successive runs.

Myers: From then on, we didnt move the ball hardly at all.

It was like we poked the bear.

They just bludgeoned us after that.

We couldnt move the big man from the Patriots, (Vince) Wilfork, at all.

Gonzalez: We beat them up and down every fing which way, and every facet, every metric that you could imagine in the fing game.

And I remember that the athletic director for Washington said that they would never play us again.

I do remember Larry Coker calling a timeout only to allow the seniors to come out of the game because were already winning by a lot.

And I do have a beautiful picture of me and (offensive lineman Martin) Bibla in the center of the Orange Bowl with our helmets up, walking off the field in the middle of the fourth quarter, whatever it was.

Advertisement But I do remember at some point in that game, I dont know when that was in the second or the third quarter, I remember standing up on top of the bench and calling the whole team together and (saying), Dont you ever fing forget what these guys did to us last year.

You fing shove it down their fing throat and you fing make them feel the fing pain that we felt last year.

Those were the exact words that I used.

I remember that.

My hands are shaking.

Im ready to fing run through a fing wall right now.

I remember telling the guys that.

Miami led Washington 37-0 at halftime and won 65-7.

Pickett fumbled twice and was sacked four times.

The Canes intercepted six passes.

Miami went on to win the national title, with the 2001 team regarded as one of the greatest in college football history .

Tripplett: I dont know if they felt this way or not, that cross-country flight is a beast.

That was a challenge.

Im not using that as an excuse, but it definitely plays a role, and I wonder if it played a role at their end as well.

They had a different mindset.

They were trying to beat us down, and thats exactly what they did.

We were not ready.

We had Cody Pickett, he was young.

Reggie Williams was a freshman.

This was not the Tui-led Huskies in that game.

Rumph: Damien Lewis, Dan Morgan, feel bad for those guys.

I mean, the 2000 team was probably just as good or better than the 2001 team.

But we lost that game.

Tripplett: I remember when I got into the league, I played with Reggie Wayne (with the Colts), and Id joke that they were basically an all-star team.

They had so many first-rounders (15) and the only first-rounder we had was our tight end, Jerramy Stevens.

Many of the players in the 2000 and 2001 Miami-Washington games now have sons who are college recruits themselves.

Miami head coach Mario Cristobal was a grad assistant on the UM staff in 2000 when the Canes lost but wasnt on staff when Miami got its revenge in 2001 because hed taken the O-line job at Rutgers when Schiano became the Scarlet Knights head coach.

One of Cristobals big recruits in the 2026 class is a South Florida kid whose family knows all about the Washington-Miami rivalry running back Javian Mallory, the nephew of Rich Alexis.

Alexis: It was a full circle moment because we had a lot of people amongst our family who are Canes at heart.

Now, you got one thats actually going to be a Cane.

We got one, at least.

(Top photos of Rick Neuheisel, Reggie Wayne: Otto Greule Jr.

/ Allsport).

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