[Thugger Jackson]

Miami Hurricanes Football History
The Miami Hurricanes football team represents the University of Miami in the sport of American football. The Hurricanes compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The program began in 1926 and has won five AP national championships (1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, 2001).Miami is ranked fourth on the list of All-time Associated Press National Poll Championships, tied with Southern California and behind Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Alabama.

Miami also holds a number of NFL Draft records, including most first round selections in a single draft and most consecutive drafts with at least one first round selection. As of the 2011 National Football League season, UM had the most players active in the NFL of any university in the nation, with 42. Two Hurricanes have won the Heisman Trophy and nine have been inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame. The team plays its home games at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Championships
1983: 11-1, AP and Coaches National Champions.
1987: 12-0, AP and Coaches National Champions.
1989: 11-1, AP and Coaches National Champions.
1991: 12-0, AP National Champions, Big East Champions.
1992: 11-1, Big East Champions.
1994: 10-2, Big East Champions.
2000: 11-1, Big East Champions.
2001: 12-0, BCS, AP and Coaches National Champions, Big East Champions.
2002: 12-1, Big East Champions.

Program Traditions
- Touchdown Tommy is the cannon that is fired off when the team runs out of the tunnel, after every point that the Hurricanes score, and the conclusion of a victory.
- One of the Hurricanes' best-known traditions is the team's entrance scene. The team enters the field through a large cloud of white smoke billowing from its entrance tunnel, amid a tape of a hurricane blasting over the sound system.
- In 1997, the university established the 'Ring of Honor' as a way to honor outstanding players who have passed through the Hurricane football program.

Rivalries

The rivalry dates to 1951, when the Hurricanes defeated the Seminoles 35–13 in their inaugural meeting. The schools have played every year since 1966, with Miami holding the all-time advantage, 31–29. Upon the conclusion of their 2003 regular-season schedules, the teams represented their respective conferences in the 2004 FedEx Orange Bowl (Miami being the champions of the Big East, and Florida State being the champions of the ACC). Miami won the bowl game 16–14; it was the only time the schools have met in post-season football play. The 60 meetings between the teams of FSU and Miami eclipsed the rivalry between the Hurricanes and the Gators (from the University of Florida) following their 2010 game; the series of games between UM and Florida is Miami's second-longest at 55 games.

During the 1980s and '90s, the series emerged as one of the premier rivalries in college football. Between 1983 and 2002, the Hurricanes and Seminoles combined to win 7 national championships and play in 14 bowl games with a national championship at stake. The 1988 game starred 57 future NFL pros on the combined rosters. Since 2004, the year Miami left the Big East Conference to join the expanded 12-member Atlantic Coast Conference, the universities have been conference foes, though they are placed in separate divisions within the conference. This alignment creates the potential for the two teams to meet for a second time in the ACC Championship Game, should each win their respective divisions in any particular season. Such a rematch has yet to happen after 9 years of ACC Championship Games, as of 2013.

The series has consistently drawn very high television ratings with the 2006 Miami–Florida State game being the most-watched college football game—regular-season or postseason—in ESPN history, and the 2009 and 1994 meetings being the second- and fifth-most watched regular season games, respectively.

Miami's rivalry with Florida dates back to 1938, making it the oldest rivalry among Florida's "Big Three" of Miami, Florida, and Florida State.[126] The Hurricanes defeated the Gators, 19–7, in the first meeting between the geographic rivals. The Seminole War Canoe was carved in 1955 out of a cypress struck by lightning and was given to the winner of the annual football game. The canoe is meant to symbolize the fighting spirit of the Seminole people that is often on display during games between the Hurricanes and Gators. The canoe is now on permanent display at the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame on the Coral Gables campus.

Miami holds the edge in the all-time series with a 29–26 record against Florida. The two schools met every year from 1944 until 1987, but have not played regularly since then. Florida canceled the annual series after the 1987 season, when the requirement of the Southeastern Conference for member schools to play eight conference games induced the University of Florida to fill out the non-conference portion of its schedule with teams that do not require a home-and-home arrangement, except for Florida State.

From 1986 to 2003, Miami won all six of the games between the schools, including victories in the 2001 Sugar Bowl and the 2004 Peach Bowl. Florida snapped its 23-year drought against Miami with a 26–3 win over the Hurricanes in 2008. The last scheduled game between the two was September 7, 2013 at Sun Life Stadium,[130] Miami won 21-16.

While not the most regular rivalry for either school, Notre Dame's games with Miami, dubbed by Irish fans in the late 1980s as "Catholics vs. Convicts" still stand out as one of the most heated feuds in college football history, which included a 58-7 blow out by the Hurricanes in 1985 and a failed Jimmy Johnson two-point conversion attempt to go for the win instead of tying the game in 1988. After not meeting for two decades, the schools faced each other in the 2010 Sun Bowl, with Notre Dame prevailing 33–17. The Fighting Irish hold a 17–7–1 edge. Miami and Notre Dame renewed their regular season rivalry at Soldier Field on Saturday, October 6, 2012, with Notre Dame winning 41-3. They will begin a new series of games in 2016.