Enough Is Enough. The U Needs To Be Back

As this Super Bowl week rolls on, the Miami Hurricanes have somehow found themselves wrapped up in all of crazy hoopla surrounding this big game.

On Wednesday, Fox Sports did a special program, which included former-Canes Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Reggie Wayne and Michael Irvin, and for more than an hour, these legends talked about what made The U so special.

Then on Thursday, it was announced that Miami would be hiring Reed as the football programs chief of staff.

As all of this is going on, and I'm seeing UM get all of this attention, one thing has stood out to me; The U needs to return. Enough is enough, the Miami Hurricanes need to return to the top of college football.

Though I’m a younger Canes fan, and I’ve never really been old enough to appreciate a Miami national championship, I still know the history of this program very well. I understand what the Hurricanes did for college football. There’s a reason why they’ve made two 30 for 30’s about The U. There’s a reason why Fox Sports brought back former Hurricanes to talk about what The U means to them in the middle of Super Bowl week.

That reason is because when Miami was good, when The U was at the top of their game, they dominated in a way college football has never seen. There’s something different about Miami, that when the Canes are winning, the entire country watches, and they talk about it. Does Paul Finebaum get riled up for any other team like he does the Hurricanes?

A couple years ago, Colin Cowherd said during his show, “College football misses Miami.” It’s one thing for local sports radio hosts to talk about how the Hurricanes affect college football, it’s another thing for a national media guy to come out and say that.

I’m not sure why Miami is different, it just is. Well, yes I do. It’s because the Canes don’t just win, they do so with swagger. Ah yes, that beautiful word that we all know and love. The word that UM made famous. Whenever Miami has won, the swagger and confidence they do it with fits perfectly with their city, and is just something that can’t be matched. South Bend does’t have swag, Tuscaloosa doesn’t have swag. Miami has swag, it just works.

Simply put, the Turnover Chain became so popular not just because the Canes were winning, but also because it fit the city of Miami so well.

Alabama has been on a run of excellence for a decade. Clemson and Dabo Swinney are doing incredible things. Even LSU, their 2019 team will go down as one of the greatest college football teams of all-time. And still, even with all these other programs winning titles, they’re still not at the level that Miami was at, and they’re not talked about in the way classic Canes teams are talked about.

Each January, when some team wins the national championship, they’re always compared to the 2001 Miami Hurricanes.

Nobody captivates college football and the entire country like Miami can when they’re good. When the Hurricanes are rolling, you either hate Miami, or you love Miami. Just like baseball is better when the Yankees are good, college football is better when the Hurricanes are good.

During a two-week period during the 2017 season, America couldn’t help but watch Miami thrash Virginia Tech and Notre Dame in back to back games. The duo of Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit broadcasted both games, and even if it was just for a brief period, the Hurricanes were back on the national stage.

In 2019, ESPN did a countdown of the 150 greatest games in college football history, and Miami was in four of the top six games. Whether you hate them or love them, you will watch when The U is on national TV.

So yes, the time is now. The University of Miami needs The U back. The city of Miami needs The U back. And college football needs The U back.