March Madness CaneSport Style: Round 1, Games 13-16

March Madness CaneSport Style: Round 1, Games 1-4

March Madness CaneSport Style: Round 1, Games 5-8

March Madness CaneSport Style: Round 1, Games 9-12

Who says there is not gonna be March Madness?

We can't let the coronavirus take away March Madness.

So CaneSport has created its own tournament.

Miami Hurricane style.

Welcome to Round 1 with a field of 64 contenders aiming to be the national champion of Hurricane lore.

Over the the next couple weeks, we will eliminate the pretenders down to the Round of 32, the Sweet 16, the Elite 8, the Final Four and then the championship.

The subscribers at CaneSport.com will have the voting power on the message boards of CaneSport.com.

Who or what will emerge as the greatest Cane of all.

The coming days will provide the answer.

We will introduce four new games each day for the next eight days.

So get your votes in in the threads in the War Room message board and may the winners advance

Then we will move onward to the next round until we crown a champion.

THE CASE FOR GORE: Gore made an impact from Day 1 at Miami. As a true freshman he backed up Clinton Portis during the 2001 National Championship season, gaining 562 yards on just 62 carries for a 9.1 yards per carry average. He was named The Sporting News' Freshman of the Year. After redshirting in 2002 after knee surgery, he came back strong in 2003 and became the first Miami back ever to record three 100-yard rushing games to start a season. He rushed for 468 yards on 89 carries (a 5.3 yd. avg.) and scored 4 touchdowns in less than 5 games before he suffered another serious knee injury. In his final year at UM, 2004, Gore led the Canes with 945 yards rushing on 197 carries (4.8 yard avg.) and scored 8 touchdowns. So, in just 28 games over his four injury-plagued seasons, Gore rushed for 1,975 yards. He was selected in the third round (65th overall) of the 2005 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers and now is one of only three players, along with Jim Brown and Barry Sanders, to record nine 1,000-yard rushing seasons. A five-time Pro Bowler, Gore has played 15 seasons in the NFL and amassed 15,347 rush yards and 79 touchdowns.

THE CASE FOR BRATTON: Bratton had a standout career at the University of Miami during his five seasons in Coral Gables. As a running back and fullback, Bratton ran his way into the UM record books as well as leading the team to the 1987 national championship over Oklahoma. His 32 career touchdowns tied for third all-time, and his 26 rushing touchdowns were fourth-most. When he completed his career in 1987, he was listed among several record holders including points scored (3rd, 192), touchdown receptions (6th) all-purpose yardage (8th, 2,455), rushing (9th, 1,371) and receptions (9th, 86). After getting injured in the 1988 Orange Bowl against Oklahoma, his final collegiate game, the sure-fire first round pick was forced to rehabilitate and wound up a sixth-round selection of the Miami Dolphins. He played with the Broncos from 1988-91 and rushed for 190 yards and four TDs in the pros.

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THE CASE FOR MCGAHEE: McGahee redshirted in 2000, then backed up Clinton Portis while the Canes won their fifth National Championship. 2002 was his breakout season as he put together arguably the best season ever by a Miami running back. He turned in six school records, including 1,753 yards on 282 carries and scoring 28 touchdowns, the third most in a season in NCAA history. He was named a consensus All-American, Big East Co-Offensive Player of the Year (with Ken Dorsey), First Team All-Big East and was a finalist for the Doak Walker Award for the nation’s best running back, the Walter Camp Player of the Year and the Heisman Trophy. He had 10 100-yard rushing games that season. Although McGahee suffered a devastating knee injury in the Fiesta Bowl, he was drafted in the first round (23rd overall) by the Buffalo Bills. He ended his Miami career with 2,067 yards and 31 touchdowns. He went on to play 12 years in the NFL, ending his pro career with 8,474 yards, 65 touchdowns, four 1,000-yard seasons and was named to the Pro Bowl twice (2007, 2011).

THE CASE FOR JOHNSON: Johnson was a major weapon as a rusher, pass catcher out of the backfield and returner. During his career from 2012-14 he ran for 3,519 yards with 26 TDs, adding 719 receiving yards and four scores as well as 1,288 kick return yards and two more TDs. In Year 1 he had one of the best freshman seasons in UM history with 947 yards and 10 TDs rushing along with a Cane single-season record 892 kick return yards and two scores - his 2,060 all-purpose yards were second-most in program history. As a sophomore he ran for 920 yards and six TDs in eight games - his year was cut short by a ankle injury at Florida State. In his final season before turning pro early he ran for a career-high 249 yards on 29 carries against Virginia Tech and ended with 1,652 rushing yards and 10 scores. Picked in the third round with the 77th pick by the Cleveland Browns, he's played five years in the NFL to this point and has rushed for 1,696 yards along with 2,580 receiving yards and 18 total TDs.

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THE CASE FOR WIDE RIGHT 1 AGAINST FSU IN 1991: The storied Wide Right series of missed kicks at the end of UM-FSU games began in 1991. The Canes entered that game ranked No. 2 in the nation: The Seminoles were No. 1. Down 16-10, Gino Torretta led Miami on a scoring drive that ended with a Larry Jones TD that put Miami ahead, 17-16. Casey Weldon responded by driving Florida State down the field, and Gerry Thomas came on for the game-winning 34-yard field goal. He missed wide right. Miami went on to an undefeated season and shared the national title with Washington.

THE CASE FOR MICHAEL IRVIN 3RD DOWN 73-YARD TD AGAINST FSU WITH 2:32 TO PLAY IN 1987: On Oct. 3, 1987, the No. 3 Canes were at No. 4 Florida State, and UM was trailing 19-3 in the second half. Miami fought back to tie the score. Then, with 2:32 to go, Steve Walsh hit Michael Irvin on a perfect third down fade toss over Deion Sanders down the right sideline. Irvin caught the ball and ran past two defenders for a 73-yard TD. Miami went on to win, 26-25, went undefeated and won a national title.

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THE CASE FOR SCHNELLENBERGER: The coach of UM's first national championship team, Schnellenberger was responsible for the turnaround in UM football from 5-6 in 1979 to 11-1 and a national championship in 1983. He had a 41-16 coaching record at Miami and brought the Canes into the national spotlight with upset victories over Penn Sate in 1979 and 1981 and led Miami to two bowl victories: the 1981 Peach Bowl, 20-10 over Virginia Tech, and the 1984 Orange Bowl, 31-30 over No. 1 ranked Nebraska. Schnellenberger's teams went 25-2 at the Orange Bowl and had 14 network television appearances in five years after only one appearance the previous five seasons. He left Miami after the 1983 season and would later coach at Louisville, Oklahoma and Florida Atlantic University before retiring in 2011, with 158 victories across 27 seasons at the four different programs, and a perfect (6-0) bowl record.

THE CASE FOR DAVIS: Davis was part of the Hurricanes program from 1984-88 as DL coach under Jimmy Johnson and then from 1995-2000 as head coach. Davis made a name for himself as an incredible talent evaluator, and he gets tremendous credit for helping UM weather NCAA sanctions (the team lost 31 scholarships over several years based on previous issues after he got the head job) to quickly get the team back to the upper echelon of the college football world - in his final 2000 season the Canes were 11-1 and were ranked second. Also not to be overlooked is his role in helping recruit the talent that made UM's 2001 national championship team arguably the greatest college football roster ever assembled. Davis abruptly left UM after the 2000 season to coach the Browns, which in the end did not work out well, and he has since coached at North Carolina and now FIU.

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