Things are a little confusing here, but what else would you expect in a place where zillions of revelers stumbled into the New Year on a street named for whiskey?
The scene was nothing unusual for Bourbon Street, which is always jammed with visiting firemen. It was a football game that drew the current pack of yahoos to New Orleans, although which game was hard to determine from the passing parade.
There was more orange on display in the French Quarter than there would be in the Orange Bowl, which is in Miami, which is what one of the teams playing here calls home. The University of Miami, whose colors are orange and green, came here to win the national championship, which most of the nation thinks is being decided in the Orange Bowl, which is where almost no one cares to watch the hometown team.
Anyway, most of the orange in New Orleans is being sported by fans who honk for the University of Tennessee, which has waited 15 years to play again in the Sugar Bowl. Seems like the whole state wants to be seen or obscene in an outlandish variety of clothes colored Tennessee orange and white.
The football game? Oh, that three-hour lapse into near sobriety? Well, the half-dozen or so TV viewers who are so hung over they can`t tell Sugar from Orange should find that a national championship game by any name is just as sweet.
This one matches independent Miami (10-1), ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press poll and No. 2 in the United Press International poll, against Southeastern Conference champion Tennessee (8-1-2), ranked No. 8 in both. Should Miami win the Sugar Bowl and Oklahoma upset No. 1 Penn State in the Orange Bowl, the Hurricanes should claim at least one national championship trophy.
”If that happens,” says Miami coach Jimmy Johnson, continuing his nonstop lobbying for the Hurricanes, ”this is what we will have done this season:
–”The longest winning streak in the country (Miami has won 10 straight; Penn State leads with 11).
–”A victory over the top 20 team that won the Atlantic Coast Conference title and the Cherry Bowl (Maryland).
— ”A victory over the top 20 team that won the Gator Bowl (Florida State).
— ”A victory over the team that won the Big Eight and the Orange Bowl
(Oklahoma).
— ”A victory over the SEC champion.
”I told our team this week if we are able to accomplish all that, regardless of what anyone says, 20 years from now we can look back and say we were the best football team in the country in 1985.”
For Miami to hold up its end of the New Year`s night parlay, the Hurricanes must find a way to beat a Tennessee defense that finished the season with consecutive shutouts and forced 33 turnovers. That is exactly the number of turnovers committed by the Miami offense all season.
Tennessee led the nation with a plus-17 turnover ratio, while Miami was minus-4.
”Our low turnover situation was not by accident,” says Tennessee coach Johnny Majors. ”We lost several games in 1984 by turnovers, so we started out this year working hard on how to cause and prevent them. Most importantly, our players responded to it.”
No one understood better than senior defensive back Chris White, who went from the sidelines to stardom. White got a chance to play this year only because the incumbent safety was hurt before the opener against UCLA.
”UCLA tested me on about the third play, and I had my hands on the ball and dropped it,” White says. ”I was thinking, `Here goes my only chance for an interception.` ”
White wound up with three interceptions in the 26-26 tie against Pac-10 champion UCLA and finished the season with nine, leading NCAA Division I.
The Tennessee defense made similar progress during the season. Burned for 75 points in the first three games, the Vols allowed just 58 points in the next eight. The defense gave up just two touchdowns in the final six games.
Such stinginess was considered necessary when the Vols` No. 1 quarterback, Tony Robinson, tore up his knee in the fifth game of the season. But his replacement, seldom used senior Daryl Dickey, went on to complete 65 percent of his passes for 1,161 yards, 10 TDs and just one interception.
The Vols` best receiver is senior All-America Tim McGee, who caught 50 passes for 947 yards and 7 TDs. McGee will be working against a Miami secondary with three sophomores and a freshman.
Miami, which has just one senior starter, came on strong with the emergence of quarterback Vinny Testaverde. Testaverde, bothered by the flu this week, passed for 3,238 yards, 21 TDs and 15 interceptions. Miami`s primary receiver, tight end Willie Smith, is, like McGee,the top pass catcher in his school`s history.
”A lot of people said we would be 5-6,” Testaverde says. ”We felt we could go a long way.”
