There were TWO questionable calls on fumbles, one in each half. Both times the Hurricanes scored on those drives. In BOTH cases we forced and recovered fumbles (IIRC one was pretty deep in Miami territory).
That said, the 33-25 score is somewhat misleading. Miami lead, 20-17, at the half. They then had a lead of 33-17 late in the fourth quarter. In the final minute or so we put together a drive and scored and then hit the two. There were literally only seconds left.
We kicked an onside kick, and they recovered.
So the article is accurate on the whole.
It is, however, inaccurate in the picture it paints regarding Curry's time at Tech. Yes, Curry's team only won one game each of his first two years. But Tech was hit with MAJOR sanctions prior to Curry's hiring. Also, you have to acknowledge that the Georgia Bulldogs of 1980-1982 was the most successful era of Bulldog football, which didn't make Curry's job any easier.
Curry laid the foundation for a national championship at GT in 1990 (won by Bobby Ross).
You also have to remember when Curry got to Tuscaloosa that a few things happened that made things more difficult. He took over just as the senior class of Mike Shula, Van Tiffin, Cornelius Bennett, and Jon Hand were leaving. Yes, Derrick Thomas was there, but he wasn't DT yet.
Everyone looking at Bobby Bowden and the 1987 hire needs to get some facts in their head - namely, that Bobby Bowden was not nearly the "big name" hire that everyone nowadays wants to assume he would have been. Consider Bowden's record at FSU after a rapid start in the late 1970s:
1981: 6-5
1982: 9-3
1983: 7-4
1984: 7-3-2
1985: 9-3
1986: 7-4-1
The positives, of course, are that he had a winning season every year. But a closer look shows why his name was not quite as big back then: he lost to Florida EVERY SINGLE ONE of those years, and most of the games weren't even that close (35-3 in 1981, 53-14 in 1983, 38-14 in 1985). His record against SEC teams AT THAT TIME was 2-9-1, with losses to Auburn and Florida dominating (the only SEC team he could barely beat was LSU - and even LSU creamed them in 1982, 55-21).
A closer look would also reveal the fact his schedules were not - for the most part - very challenging. FSU was an Independent back in that day (they didn't join the ACC until 1991). In 1981, he played a big league schedule and his record was 6-5. The big names on his schedule included Ohio State, Notre Dame, Pitt (with Dan Marino), and Miami with Jim Kelly. That year he lost to Southern Miss by a score of 58-14 AT HOME. This same USM team tied Alabama, 13-13, that same year.
So I think we need to keep perspective. There was NO WAY to know Bobby Bowden was going to become Bobby Bowden, head of the team of the 1990s. I seem to recall that he was in the running in 1987 and 1990 both.
NOW - I guess you could say we made a mistake by picking Stallings over Bowden in 1990. But did we? In the same time frame, Alabama and FSU have each won two national titles, and FSU's last one was over a decade ago.
Remember that in the same time frame, Tech was also an Independent and then joined the ACC in 1983. Curry's 1985 team had the same basic record as Florida State but played a slightly easier schedule. But that team was on a par with the 85 Tide. Yes, they lost to Auburn (whom we beat), but they tied Tennessee, who beat us. And he beat Georgia by the exact same score, 20-16.
Perhaps Joab looked at Curry's record against the SEC over the same time as Bowden's - it was 6-16-1 - and figured it was six of one and half a dozen of the other. Neither one of them had beaten Auburn over that time frame.
Now keep this in mind - I am NOT defending the decision to hire Curry nor do I think he was anything resembling an all-time great coach. I think had he stayed at Alabama that he would have been a 9-wins per year guy with an occasional lucky strike year of 11 wins.
I'm simply pointing out Curry's record at GT needs to be examined in light of the context of a major probation and the fact he built the program back up.
He also has to be cut some slack on a few things he couldn't help. He didn't know Bobby Humphrey was going to blow out a knee in 1988. Curry still went 9-3 despite losing his best offensive player (Humphrey) and he wound up playing David Smith over Jeff Dunn at QB (forget the specifics, I think Dunn got hurt). And it wasn't his fault that the Iron Bowl just happened to get move to mandate a road game at Auburn in 1989. I think if that game is at Bham that we win (Auburn's high moment was primarily emotional) and then Bama fans are screaming about Colorado getting the championship if they win.
Just my thoughts.
