Pain and 'Canes
As Oklahoma and Miami get set to renew an old rivalry Saturday, as much focus fixes on their games of the late 1980s. The Sooners may have been great; Miami was better
Sooners may have been great; Miami was better

By John Helsley

Published: September 3, 2007

Miami mauler Jerome Brown, readying to take Owen Field in 1985, stood bouncing in his cleats, working himself into a lather.

On the verge of what would become a series of three high-profile showdowns, the big defensive tackle was unafraid and seemingly unimpressed with the Oklahoma Sooners or their grand tradition.

"As the Oklahoma players walked down the ramp,” Jimmy Johnson, coach of that Miami team, recalled last week, "Jerome started a chant: ‘Fresh meat… Fresh meat…'

"Here I'd been the coach at Oklahoma State, where we had been thumped thoroughly in our days there. So as the head coach, I wasn't totally confident. I eased over to him, I said, ‘Let's not make these people mad now, Jerome.'

"But he knew something that I didn't know.”

Brown knew the Hurricanes were better.

Better, yes, than the Sooners, much to the dismay of OU devotees everywhere and despite OU's almost routine status as the No. 1-ranked squad in the country. In retrospect, that's the bottom line in what went down as Miami sailed past Oklahoma as the nation's preeminent program.

As the schools prepare to clash Saturday, emotions are already flowing again for those who recall a rich series that features five previous meetings. The real focus, however, will fixate on the trio of games from the late '80s.

Spanning three seasons — 1985 through 1987 — the Sooners showed off their stockpiled talent in romping to a record of 33-3.

The three losses: all to Miami.

"The best two teams in college football at the time,” said Barry Switzer. "Jimmy probably should've won three national championships in that period of time. The only two games they lost were two bowl games, and the only three games we lost in those three years was to them.

"Oklahoma and Miami were a step above everyone in the country at that time. We won a national championship, they won a national championship, and when you look back on it, Jimmy probably should've won three national championships. He had the opportunity to do it.”

The Sooners had The Boz and Keith Jackson and Rickey Dixon and Jamelle Holieway among a stout group of headliners.

The Hurricanes had Brown and Vinny Testaverde and Michael Irvin and Bennie Blades and Alonzo Highsmith and more, guys who produced long and established careers in the NFL.

And they had speed. Loads of speed.

"That was a thing we prided ourselves on,” said Blades, an All-America defensive back and the 1987 Thorpe Award winner. "We weren't the biggest of guys, we just had guys in the right places who could really run and make a difference.

"Back then, Oklahoma was a team that wanted to go 1-2-3 and a cloud of dust. They had quick players, don't get me wrong, we just had more team speed.”

The cloud-of-dust approach was hardly OU's preferred method. The Sooners regularly scorched opponents with their own speed. Miami, however, managed to make OU's offense look plodding.

"They were fast. Fast, fast, fast,” said David Vickers, an OU defensive back from 1984-87. "We always dominated people with speed with our offense. Speed and power. They were just as strong and fast as we were.”

The 'Canes were cocky, too, adding to a disdain for Miami that still runs through Sooner fans old enough to remember.

Brown's shenanigans only got Miami started that day in Norman. At one point, the visitors lined up on Owen Field, shaking fists and waving fingers at the Sooners, a shocking scene in the house that Bud and Barry built.

"Anytime we got off the team bus,” Blades said, "when we got to the stadium, we marked our territory: ‘This is our home.' ”

Said Vickers: "When they came marching out to the field at the hash mark and were taunting us, I mean, we had never seen anything like that any place we played.

"I was kind of taken aback by that. It was like, ‘Wow.' ”

Imagine the "wow” factor for Johnson when his Orange Bowl victory over OU, the last in the series, resulted in a national championship for the 1987 season. Johnson had gone 0-5 against the Sooners while at OSU.

At Miami, however, he had talent.

"When I was at OSU, I was fighting them with a BB gun,” Johnson said with a laugh. "I brought a .357 magnum with me when I went to Norman.”

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