Ohio State and Miami set for a nostalgic CFP clash, with the focus on now, not a flag from long ago

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — The last time Ohio State and Miami met in a postseason football game, the Hurricanes spent a couple of seconds celebrating a victory that gave them back-to-back national championships.

And then The Flag came out.

The Hurricanes stopped celebrating. They haven’t celebrated a title since.

It was Ohio State vs. Miami in the Fiesta Bowl, the national championship for the 2002 season. Miami leads 24-17 in overtime, Ohio State throws into the end zone on fourth down, the ball hits the ground, one official signals it was an incomplete pass, and the game ends. Miami wins. Except it wasn’t over. Miami doesn’t win. Another official called pass interference to extend the drive, the Buckeyes scored to tie the game, then scored again in the second overtime and won the national title 31-24.

Next week, they meet again in a postseason game — the Cotton Bowl, with Ohio State being the team seeking back-to-back national titles. The Buckeyes (12-1) and Hurricanes (11-2) will face off in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal on New Year’s Eve.

“It’s going to be a challenge for us offensively, but it’s a challenge that we’re looking forward to,” Miami quarterback Carson Beck said. “But we do recognize how talented they are, and we’re going to have to come and execute.”

And in fairness, the Hurricanes of 2002 did not execute as well as they needed against Ohio State. They turned the ball over five times and gave up four sacks. But all anyone remembers is the fourth-down play where Craig Krenzel threw to the right corner of the end zone, intended for Chris Gamble. Miami cornerback Glenn Sharpe defended, Gamble didn’t make the catch, line judge Derick Bowers motioned the pass was incomplete and the Hurricanes started to jump for joy. Sean Taylor threw his helmet so high in the air in celebration that parts of it broke upon landing.

Then Terry Porter, the back judge, made the call. It did not go over well with everyone; even ABC analyst Dan Fouts twice said “bad call” while watching replays.

Porter has said over the years that he simply took an extra moment to make sure he got the call right.

“If you make a call and it’s right, the call goes away. If you make a call and the call is wrong, it never goes away. Ever,” Porter told the Stillwater News Press for a story published in August about his entry into that state’s officiating Hall of Fame. “So just take your time and try to get it right. That’s what we all want to do. When you walk out at night, out of the place — football, basketball, I don’t care — you just want to have gotten it right.”

Beck wasn’t even 2 months old when the Miami-Ohio State title game was played. What happened on Jan. 3, 2003, in theory, won’t matter much to either side. After all, most of the players in this game weren’t even born when that happened.

“We’re focused on the present,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “We’re focused on the present.”

But matchups are often about history, about nostalgia. The teams have played twice since that Fiesta Bowl — Ohio State won in 2010, Miami won in 2011 — but those games are registering nary a blip of attention right now.

“I think games like this, with two storied programs, I think people are always going to want to pull out history and draw comparisons and all that other stuff,” Cristobal said. “And moments like that, they’re valid. They’re real. It’s what makes college football awesome, the pageantry. But this game is the 2025 Hurricanes and Buckeyes going after it, to be determined by the 22 guys on the field one snap at a time. That’s going to be the focus. That’s where all our attention will be.”

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