Joke is on The U after Miami loses to FIU, Butch Davis in old Orange Bowl

The Miami Hurricanes fall at the former site of the Orange Bowl to the Florida International Panthers, led by former Hurricanes head coach Butch Davis.

There were at least two times in the history of the world it was all about The U. The 1980s were a most glorious time for the Miami Hurricanes, with iconic names like Michael Irvin, Jimmy Johnson and Howard Schnellenberger. Then in the late 1990s and very early 2000s, the Canes were a college football storm with the likes of Butch Davis, Ray Lewis and Ed Reed. That was a while ago.

One year removed from the final year of the three-year Mark Richt era in Coral Gables have the Hurricanes hit 100 percent, absolute, undeniable rock bottom. This is a football program that created swag and should dominate every single college football Saturday. There is so much football talent in Florida, it almost isn’t even far. Miami can’t even beat the Florida International Panthers.

Yes, that actually happened on Saturday night. Miami lost its most embarrassing football game in program history. The Hurricanes, which are one of the three Power 5 institutions in the state of Florida, along with the Florida Gators and the Florida State Seminoles, just lost a neutral-site affair to the seventh-most important FBS football program in the state of Florida badly.

Yes, FIU ranks seventh in the Florida major college football hierarchy after in some order Florida, Florida State, Miami, UCF, South Florida and Florida Atlantic, only because the Owls’ head coach is Lane Kiffin and they won Conference USA his first year in Boca Raton in 2017.

Besides Florida International actually beating Miami in a football game, there are two other reasons why this loss could not be more embarrassing for the Hurricanes. Guess who is the head coach of the Florida International Panthers? That’s right, it’s Butch Freaking Davis!

This is the same Davis who left Coral Gables for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns in 2000. After only one playoff appearance in Cleveland, the only one since the Browns came back to the NFL as an expansion team, Davis resigned in 2004. Two years later, he’d become the head coach of the ACC’s North Carolina Tar Heels. After four years of mediocre football and scandal, he was fired.

Then in 2017 in his mid-60s, Davis took over the Florida International football program. His teams have made it to a bowl game every season. With this win over The U, Florida International has achieved bowl eligibility for the fifth time in school history. Davis clearly got the last laugh on the Canes on Saturday night.

Okay, so Miami won the 2001 BCS National Championship during Davis’ first year in Cleveland. The Canes are always going to win this, right? You could not be more wrong. Guess where this game was being played? Marlins Park, as in where the most dysfunctional MLB franchise plays non-winning baseball. So the Canes lost to FIU in a baseball stadium. That has to be it, right?

Nope, it gets worse. Guess what used to be on the exact same ground as Marlins Park? The Freaking Orange Bowl, the place where Miami football first became nationally relevant as The U in the 1980s! If this wasn’t a sick joke of a football funeral, I don’t know what is. This is almost a fireable offense for first-year head coach Manny Diaz. And you thought it got bad with Richt…

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