Defining Miami's cockiness in 1993: 'They were different'

When Miami had it going from the mid-80s through the early 90s, they had a certain swagger about them. It made them likable to some and easy to hate for others depending on which sideline you were on.

On3’s Andy Staples and BamaOnline’s Tim Watts spoke about the Hurricanes during that era, specifically in 1993, on Friday. Watts, who was recalling the Crimson Tide’s matchup in The Sugar Bowl with them that season with Staples, said that the energy around The ‘U was one that was their own, which sometimes rubbed opponents or critics the wrong way.

“Also, again, the Miami mystique? It’s hard even now knowing there’s not a Miami mystique to be honest with you because it was so deep when you and I were growing up. But that Miami mystique, no matter what their record was? You wanted to fight ’em,” Watts said. “I mean because you’d grown up your whole life – they’re fighting in the Cotton Bowl, they’re fighting here.”

“They felt unbeatable. Or, like, score in the Cotton Bowl and then run through the tunnel out of the stadium,” agreed Staples on that take. “Now, I think there would be a little different feel. Like, they wouldn’t be cast as villains completely now. Like, now it would be 50-50. People love their anti-heroes now. Like, they would have been beloved by 50% of the fans nationally and hated by 50% of the fans. But, back then, it was much more of a white-hat, black-hat kind of thing. Miami was always cast as the villain. In this case, they had been so good. It was hard to imagine anybody challenging them much less doing what Alabama did, which is kick their ass.”

It wasn’t necessarily that Miami had a bunch of terrible people on their roster. They just had class after class that won at the highest level and carried themselves as such, which was deservedly so.

Pair that with the era off the field too and it’s easy for Watts and Staples to understand why they were so popular.

“I didn’t think Miami, like, overall had players who were bad. I just thought they were extremely cocky and they had a right to be,” Watts said. “You know, everything they did, the dancing and stuff? They were different. That was a different era. I mean going back to date us? I mean music had changed and the way we were dressing had changed, pop-culture had changed. They kind of led the way. You had the 2 Live Crew. There was a lot going on for us. You’re between 15 and 25 at that age. You had a lot going on and Miami kind of personified that…At the time, you hated them because they scored, said, ‘I’m better than you’, and then they were better than you.”

“They set every trend in the sport for a long time,” Staples concurred again.

The Sugar Bowl in 1993 was one of the first times in a long span since Miami had gotten popped. Over those eight seasons from ’85 to ’92, the ‘Canes went 88-8 (.917) and won three of their five national titles. The loss that capped that span though, was a 34-11 blowout by ‘Bama in New Orleans that cost them a fourth title.

Miami was great, they knew it too, and they made no apologies about it. That’s something that Watts will certainly always remember about them, especially after coming across them in ’93

“Everything then was be humble and they didn’t really feel like being (humble),” Watts said.