The Miami Hurricanes will face the Ole Miss Rebels in the 2026 Fiesta Bowl on January 8th at 7:30pm on ESPN. The Hurricanes are about a field goal favorite per Las Vegas, and a 2.5 point underdog per Bill Connelly and his SP+.
The Miami Hurricanes had been a bowl game juggernaut until 2008. From the 1981 Peach Bowl through the 2006 MPC Computers Bowl, Miami had a post season record of 15 wins and 8 losses. Truthfully for the talent level they were playing (Nebraska, Alabama, LSU, Florida, FSU, Ohio
State, Tennessee, UCLA, Texas, Penn State and Oklahoma) it’s quite the phenomenal record.
Yet four of those bowl losses came at one single bowl game, the Fiesta Bowl. The ‘Canes are 2-0 in the Gator Bowl, 2-0 in the Cotton Bowl, 1-0 in the Rose Bowl, 2-1 in the Peach Bowl, 2-2 in the Sugar Bowl, and 5-2 in the modern (since 1980) Orange Bowl. And yet, UM has had nothing but failure in the Fiesta Bowl dating back to 1985.
Three different coaches have tried, including a Hall of Fame coach in Jimmy Johnson, and all have failed. Johnson failed twice, once in 1985 against UCLA and again in 1987 against Penn State. Dennis Erickson failed in 1994 against Arizona’s Desert Swarm Defense, while Larry Coker failed in double-OT against Ohio State in 2003.
Those were some intense coaching matchups with Johnson facing off against Terry Donahue and Joe Paterno; while Erickson’s spread battling Dick Tomey’s Double Eagle Flex and Coker matching pro style football with Jim Tressel. Let’s take a closer look at the previous four Fiesta Bowl Flops.
1985 vs. UCLA
In Johnson’s first season at the helm of the Hurricanes, he was caught in the middle of the Howard Schnellenberger old regime and the desire to do things his way. Prior to the game Miami was 8-4 with wins over Auburn, Florida and Notre Dame and losses against Michigan, Florida State, Maryland, and Boston College. UM lost to Maryland and BC in tragic fashion- to the Terps on a Frank Reich comeback and to the Eagles on The Hail Flutie TD pass from Doug Flutie.
UCLA was 8-3, having lost to top-ranked Nebraska, Oregon and Stanford while beating rival USC. Names to remember from UCLA are QB Steve Bono, LB Ken Norton Jr., WR Mike Sherrard and RB Gaston Green. Head Coach Terry Donahue was an LA man all the way. He was born in LA, died in Newport Beach, and spent all but three of his 37 years in football in California. On top of that, Donahue played at UCLA from 1965-1966 and coached there from 1971-1995.
Miami lost to UCLA 39-73 in a back and forth contest with Bob Griese on the call. Miami was led by QB Bernie Kosar, WR’s Eddie Brown and Brian Blades, and RB Melvin Bratton.
1987 vs. Penn State
This was the game that changed college football forever. The brash Jimmy Johnson vs. the hard-nosed Joe Paterno. No.1 Miami vs. No.2 Penn State on January 2nd, not January 1st like the other ‘major’ bowl games of the era. It was a clash of styles and a clash of cities. PSU was the steel workers, blue collar program. Miami was the new city with the new money push into the top of college football.
11-0 Miami had knocked off Florida, Florida State and Oklahoma. 11-0 PSU had defeated no.2 Alabama and Notre Dame. This game featured 20 NFL Draft picks in the 1987 draft alone, not to mention countless others in following drafts.
The “Duel in the Desert” featured Bob Griese once again on a Fiesta Bowl losing call for the ‘Canes. Miami dominated PSU in yardage with a 445-192 yard advantage but seven turnovers including five interceptions from Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde sealed Miami’s fate in a 14-10 loss to PSU.
The Nittany Lions were led by RB DJ Dozier, LB Shane Conlan, OL Steve Wisniewski, and DB Andre Collins. UM was led by Testaverde, DL Jerome Brown, WR’s Michael Irvin and Brian Blades, DB Bennie Blades and a host of other NFL players. The ‘86 Hurricanes have to be the most talented roster to choke away a national championship in college football history.
1994 vs. Arizona
The ‘94 Fiesta Bowl was a little bit different for Miami. The ‘Canes had lost the previous two trips to Arizona by a combined six points. This time the Wildcats slapped Miami 29-0 in an embarrassing fashion for Dennis Erickson and the Hurricanes. Miami was coming off of the disappointing end to the 1992 season with a bad loss in the 1993 Sugar Bowl to Alabama.
9-2 Miami had knocked off Boston College and Colorado but lost to Florida State, and West Virginia in the regular season. 9-2 Arizona had defeated USC and Washington State but lost to UCLA and Cal. Miami was the favorite at no.9 in the national against no.14 Arizona.
Arizona’s “Desert Swarm” defense held Miami to 35 rushing yards, 147 passing yards, and forced four turnovers including three interceptions. This was the first shutout in Fiesta Bowl history and the first shutout for Miami since 1979 vs. Alabama.
The 1994 NFL Draft only produced two draft picks for the ‘Canes in DL Darren Krein and RB Donnell Bennett. Arizona had four picks in the ’94 draft. The Wildcats defense featured future Patriots star LB Tedy Bruschi; and Miami had future NFL Hall of Fame inductees on defense in LB Ray Lewis and DL Warren Sapp.
This was a strange season for Miami with a QB controversy between Frank Costa and Ryan Collins, as well as replacing ‘Canes legends in Ryan McNeil, Mike Barrow, Darrin Smith, Jessie Armstead, Lamar Thomas, Horace Copeland, Kevin Williams, and of course- Gino Torretta.
2003 vs. Ohio State
The most painful of the four Fiesta Bowl losses is the 2003 edition. The 12-0 Hurricanes were a clear no.1 in the nation and facing off against the 13-0 and 2nd ranked Ohio State Buckeyes on January 3rd, 2003. The ‘Canes were an 11.5 point favorite heading into the game and I specifically remember watching this on my parents couch with my girlfriend at the time just assuming Miami would win big.
This one was called by the legendary Keith Jackson, and set a TV audience record for a bowl game with 29.1 million viewers. The Hurricanes had won five bowl games in a row including the 2002 Rose Bowl for the BCS National Championship over Nebraska the year prior.
In order to get here, Miami had beaten Florida, Florida State, Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh. OSU had knocked off Washington State, Penn State, Minnesota and Michigan in a 13 game regular season. OSU played in front of 100K fans seven times in the 2002 season.
Miami was led by QB Ken Dorsey, RB Willis McGahee, WR Andre Johnson, C Brett Romberg (Rimmington Award), OL Vernon Carey, LB’s DJ Williams and Jon Vilma, DB’s Antrel Rolle and Sean Taylor as well as DT Vince Wilfork.
OSU’s star power came from freshmen RB Maurice Clarett, QB Craig Krenzel, WR/DB Chris Gamble, S Mike Doss, CB Dustin Fox, LB Matt Wilhelm, and DL Will Smith.
Jim Tressel would later be fired with controversy during an NCAA scandal, Clarett and Miami TE Kellen Winslow IIwould both serve prison time, and Rob Chudzinski, Randy Shannon and Mark Dantonio were coordinators in this game.
The ‘Canes led the scoring with a 7-0 1st quarter lead but trailed 14-7 at the half. The ‘Canes won the second half 10-3 to push the game to overtime on a Todd Sievers 40-yard FG as time expired. Dorsey threw a TD to Winslow to give Miami a 24-17 lead, Glenn Sharpe was called for the latest flag ever to give OSU a 2nd shot after the game was over, and Krenzel scored from the 1-yard line.
With the game tied and going into a 2nd OT, Clarett put OSU up 31-24 on a 5-yard rush before Ken Dorsey was hit by Cie Grant and his pass fell incomplete on 4th down for a Buckeyes win*.
Can the curse be broken?
Miami is 0-4 in Fiesta Bowls as a program and Mario Cristobal is 0-1 as a head coach in Arizona as well. The Oregon Ducks, then coached by Cristobal, lost to the Iowa State Cyclones 34-17 during the 2020 COVID season. Cristobal is 4-5 in post season games as a head coach dating back to his time at FIU.
Cristobal does however have a huge bowl win, the 2020 Rose Bowl as head coach of the Oregon Ducks, Oregon finished that season 5th in the country. Miami has already won a pair of CFB Playoff games in Texas, but Glendale is about 1,000 miles from Fort Worth.
Miami is the favorite, but they were the favorite against OSU, Arizona, and Penn State, too. Will Cristobal and the 2025 Hurricanes end the curse and push Miami into a home game in the CFB Championship Game back at Hard Rock Stadium? I certainly think so.
