The game was hyped kicking off the 150th season of college football.
The Miami Hurricanes versus the Florida Gators. The rich football history between the teams is what got us here.
The Hurricanes showed off a new turnover chain and unique rings, but it was the Gators who received the old fashion win.
The Gators were led by their defense in a down to the wire 24-20 win over their rival Saturday night to open the college football season.
Offensively the Gators nearly handed the hurricanes the win. Feleipe Franks looked impressive to bad in the game. Franks had three unjustifiable turnovers covered up by three touchdowns.
Gators defense came to the rescue all game long, finishing with an overwhelming ten sacks and 16 tackles for a loss.
“Maybe it’s not your night, and you can kind of let go of the rope and I thought our guys looked those situations in the eye,” Hurricanes head coach Manny Diaz said. “Fought through them, and ultimately gave ourselves a chance to win the game with 10 seconds left in the game throwing the ball in their end zone.”
The Gators won for just the second time in their last nine meetings with the Hurricanes.
The U had their chances, specifically in the last few moments. Hurricanes converted a fourth-and-34 play with 1:30 remaining when Marco Wilson was flagged for pass interference. The Hurricanes moved the chains again thanks to another pass interference call against Trey Dean. One official threw one more flag in the end zone with 20 seconds to play, but it was picked up following a discussion.
Miami proved they made the right choice with Darren as the starting QB. Williams completed 19 of 29 passes for 214 yards and a touchdown in his first career start. DeeJay Dallas ran for 95 yards, including a 50-yard scamper that put the Canes up 20-17 early in the fourth.
“You probably can’t put a guy in a more adverse situation than in this stadium. The amazing atmosphere from both sets of fans, you know, their defensive front, which we knew was really good,” Diaz said. “Jarren never really blinked. A lot of time he didn’t have a lot of time, and I thought he just played a little of courage, you know, made some plays with his feet, scrambled the throw to keep this some things alive. I think you can see why we picked him to be our guy.”
Let’s talk about jewelry.
The Hurricanes keep raising the game when it comes to the “Turnover Chain.” However, is it helping their play on the field?
The revised Turnover Chain made its debut after each of Florida’s turnovers, and the offense was able to get in on the fun with the debut of its “Touchdown Rings” following both trips to the end zone.
This season, the ‘305’ charm is what hangs around the Cuban link. It weighs 500 grams (half a kilogram), while the chain itself weighs two kilograms. The charm is roughly 10 inches wide. There are more than 2,000 white sapphire stones in the ‘305’ charm. Turnover Chain 3.0 took roughly three months to complete.
The rings bring style; they are made of orange and green sapphires and contain close to 500 stones. The Touchdown Rings weigh 100 grams.
“We wanted to spice it up,” Diaz said. “The 305 (chain) came out really well. We talked about offense wanting something else, wanting something different. Hopefully, we’ll see a lot more of them.”
The ring and chains may bring the spice; nevertheless, it is not the swagger. How does Alabama celebrate a turnover? Does Clemson celebrate with jewelry as they prepare for the college football playoffs? Winning is what catches the eyes of opposing teams and recruits moreover the history of Hurricanes football.
The chain and rings are flashy and eye-catching. The scoreboard is what catches the eyes of the playoff committee. The hurricanes need to put the jewelry away until a bowl game win.
The beat goes on, Miami gets a week off before playing a confident North Carolina on Sept. 7th on the road, leave the jewelry home.
Photos/TimBrogdon/MiamiAthletics
