Trip To Orange Bowl In 1976 Netted Duke Win Over Miami

By Jim Sumner, Blue Devil Weekly

The Duke football team travels to the Orange Bowl to play Miami this week, reviving a series that has been dormant for almost a quarter-century. In fact the last time Duke played Miami on the road, on Oct. 9, 1976, Gerald Ford was president of the United States, the Four Seasons were still making hit records and the only winning football program in South Florida played in the NFL.

Miami football had been intermittently successful in the 1960s. All-America quarterback George Mira took the Hurricanes to a pair of bowl games in the early 1960s and Ted Hendricks, the famous “Mad Stork” of the Oakland Raiders, had been a standout at Miami.

But Miami football in the 1970s was in the midst of a drought that seems virtually incomprehensible to present-day fans. Carl Selmer took over as head coach in 1975, the fifth Miami coach of the 1970s. His first team went 2-8. Miami was 1-2 in 1976 and was coming off a loss the previous week to fifth-ranked Nebraska when Duke came to town.

Duke also went into this game following a defeat to a national power, a 44-31 home loss to eventual national champion Pittsburgh and Heisman Trophy winner Tony Dorsett. Mike McGee's sixth Duke team was led by quarterback Mike Dunn, center Billy Bryan, defensive back Bob Grupp and linebacker Carl McGee. The game was played on a Saturday night, in front of an announced crowd of barely 13,000.

McGee called Miami “maybe the most physical team we play,” and Miami's aggressiveness was a problem all night as the Canes were penalized 12 times for 91 yards. Duke ran a conservative offense, relying heavily on an option game where Dunn either kept the ball or pitched to tailbacks Art Gore or Mike Barney. The disciplined Devils committed only five penalties and had no turnovers on the night, while forcing two.

Duke drew first blood, driving 75 yards in a methodical, 16-play drive. Dunn completed all three of his passes, two to All-ACC end Tom Hall, to set up Gore's three-yard touchdown run. A 29-yard pass from Dunn to fullback Tony Benjamin then set up a Vince Fusco field goal but Miami was whistled for an off sides violation on the kick. McGee rolled the dice and took points off the board by accepting the penalty. The gamble paid off when Benjamin scored from the one and Duke led 14-0.

Miami fought back to 14-7 on a 74-yard touchdown drive led by future NFL running back Ottis Anderson. But then the Canes self-destructed. Starting quarterback E.J. Baker was knocked out of the game on a sack by Jeff Green. A late hit on defense and a personal foul on offense resulted in damaging 15-yard penalties against the home team. Miami drove to the Duke 18 late in the first half but was whistled for a procedure penalty. After marking off the infraction, the officials started the clock. Miami still thought the clock was stopped and allowed the half to run out before they could attempt a field goal. Selmer spent several minutes arguing this decision with the officials but to no avail.

Dunn and company controlled the second half. Fusco added a field goal to make the score 17-7. Miami's last chance ended when Duke's Jim O'Reilly forced a fumble on a punt deep in Miami territory. This was one of O'Reilly's 10 tackles on the night. Duke drove to the Miami 2 and Fusco added the last three points of the night for a 20-7 Duke win.

Despite suffering an eye injury that required three stitches, the reliable Dunn rushed for 59 yards and passed for 83. Gore gained 60 yards on 12 runs.

Duke followed up the win with an 18-18 tie at Clemson, thanks to Fusco's field goal kicking. The Devils later defeated Georgia Tech and N.C. State before a 39-38 loss at UNC closed out a 5-5-1 campaign.

Miami ended the season at 3-8 and Selmer was dismissed.

The second and most recent meeting between Duke and Miami took place in 1983, this time in Durham. Much had changed in seven years. McGee had been replaced by Red Wilson, who had been replaced by Steve Sloan. The 1983 campaign was Sloan's first, as well as the senior season for record-setting quarterback Ben Bennett. Duke started the season with high hopes but lost its first three games by eight, five and seven points.

Miami was coached by Howard Schnellenberger, who had overseen a remarkable transition. Miami had gone 25-9 in its three previous seasons under Schnellenberger and was primed for bigger things in 1983. Those hopes were apparently dashed when the Canes were routed 28-3 by Florida in the season opener. But Miami rebounded to win its next three games, one of which was a 20-0 win over Notre Dame. Miami had climbed to 15th in the AP poll when it journeyed to Durham for the televised contest in front of 28,000.

The 1983 Miami team was the prototype of the Miami style that has dominated college football in recent decades: a great quarterback (Bernie Kosar), an aggressive defense and enough speedy skill-position players to stock an Olympic track team. Schnellenberger said all the right things before the game, praising Bennett, noting that Duke could easily be 3-0 and claiming “their offense is better than ours.” Sloan promised “a couple of new wrinkles we hope will be a factor, things that will hopefully help the defense.”

All the wrinkles in the world don't help if your opponent is bigger, stronger and faster than you are, and that was the situation Duke faced against Miami. Duke running back Joel Blunk performed the national anthem before the game and then things went downhill in a hurry. The Hurricanes exploded for 184 yards and three touchdowns on their first three possessions.

A pair of Miami turnovers enabled Duke to put a touchdown and a field goal on the board and go into halftime trailing 21-10. But any thoughts of a miracle comeback were squashed when Miami scored 21 unanswered points after intermission. Another Miami turnover led to a late Duke touchdown and a final score of 56-17.

The statistics were as one-sided as the score. Miami outgained Duke 613-225. Bennett completed 27-of-41 passes but picked up only 162 yards. Duke's receivers were unable to get open deep against the Miami secondary, while Bennett was sacked three times and harassed the entire game. Tailback Mike Grayson scored both of Duke's touchdowns, one on a pass, the other on a one-yard run.

Duke went on to lose three more games for an 0-7 start under Sloan, then won three of the last four to finish 3-8. Miami continued to blitz the opposition, winning the remainder of its games while moving up in the polls as other teams lost. They upset top-ranked Nebraska 31-30 in a memorable Orange Bowl game to claim their first national championship, a dramatic rise for a team that was unranked when the season started.

Duke and Miami are now both in the ACC's Coastal Division so meetings between the two schools will become an annual thing, providing a benchmark as Duke attempts to rebuild its football program back to prominence.

Trip To Orange Bowl In 1976 Netted Duke Win Over Miami

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