McGahee, Hurricanes Rock the Vote

MIAMI —  Hacksaw the Heisman.

Split that baby down the middle and hand the halves to Miami teammates Ken Dorsey and Willis McGahee. That was the judicious opinion of more than one Hurricane player Saturday in the breathless aftermath of a 56-45 victory over Virginia Tech that leaves Miami four quarters away from a second consecutive national championship.

The undefeated Hurricanes are headed for the Fiesta Bowl, where on Jan. 3 they will play undefeated Ohio State for the title. That dominated the chatter in the Miami locker room after Saturday’s game, but there was also a lot of talk about the Heisman Trophy, which will be awarded Saturday.

Who could stiff-arm Dorsey? He’s 37-1 as the starting quarterback and the caretaker of a 34-game winning streak.

Who could stiff-arm McGahee? He’s only a sophomore, but he came into the weekend with a 134.6-yard rushing average, then hammered the Hokies for 205 yards and a school-record six touchdowns.

Then again, who could stiff-arm USC’s quarterback? He’s the all-time leading passer in a conference that produced John Elway, Troy Aikman and Dan Fouts.

“Carson who?” Miami linebacker Jerome McDougle said, dead serious. “Who’s Carson Palmer?”

Apparently, when McDougle thinks West Coast, he thinks Tampa.

There is no denying the Hurricanes are worthy of their No. 1 ranking. They scored eight touchdowns against a good defense, often needing only a few plays to reach the end zone. They had scoring drives lasting 40 seconds, 47 seconds, 1:30 and 1:59. Others were more protracted, requiring 2:02 and 2:10. And some felt like marathons -- 4:23 and 5:44 -- even though they would be standard issue for any other team.

After trailing by three touchdowns in the first half and 49-21 early in the third quarter, Virginia Tech answered with a rally that kept the 76,108 spectators in their seats despite a steady drizzle. The scoring spree -- a 16-0 flurry by the Hokies -- happened just as the Hurricanes were about to widen their lead to 35 points.

With nine minutes left in the third quarter, Miami moved to within a yard of the end zone and might have sent McGahee barreling in for his seventh score of the day. Instead, the Hurricanes tried some trickery. They sent their star running back to the sideline, and had Jarrett Payton throw a halfback option pass for Dorsey. The wobbling throw was intercepted by free safety Willie Pile and run back 96 yards for a touchdown.

“It was Dorsey’s last game and I really wanted to give him something to go out with,” said Payton, son of late NFL great Walter Payton. “I didn’t put enough on it, though. He looked at me when we got to the sideline and said, ‘Come on, man, overthrow me.’ ... I didn’t see the safety just sitting there. I thought he was wide open. That’s why I threw it to him kind of short.”

After Pile’s touchdown, the Hokies scored 10 more unanswered points to narrow the margin to 49-37. It got the attention of Miami’s players, but not so much that they stopped mingling with friends and well-wishers on the sidelines. Jimmy Johnson was there, wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a towel slung over his shoulder. So was former Hurricane quarterback Bernie Kosar, who sat on the bench and gabbed with Dorsey.

This isn’t the same Miami juggernaut of last season. These Hurricanes have had some close games, beating Florida State on a missed field goal, trailing Rutgers in the fourth quarter, getting a scare from Pitt. That the Hokies had cut the lead to 12 seemed more an annoyance to the Miami players than a reason to panic.

Said Dorsey: “We let them stay in the game too long.”

The Hokies were outgained, 556 yards to 364, and quarterback Bryan Randall was sacked five times. He also was knocked out of the game briefly at the end of the first half when he was flattened by linebacker Jonathon Vilma and took a teeth-rearranging shot to the mouth. Backup Grant Noel stepped in and threw a beautiful seven-yard touchdown pass to Ernest Wilford.

Randall, who gives defenses a steady diet of options and draws, led Virginia Tech with 163 yards rushing in 25 carries. But it was Lee Suggs who scored the Hokies’ three rushing touchdowns, extending his streak to 26 games with a rushing touchdown, an NCAA Division I-A record.

But the story of the day was the frightening explosiveness of Miami’s offense, both on the ground and in the air.

Payton’s errant pass was one of the few lowlights for Miami’s passing game, which otherwise gave the Hokies fits. Although he completed only 12 of 20 passes, Dorsey threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns. Andre Johnson caught six of those passes, scoring a 42-yard touchdown early in the first quarter -- even though a TV replay showed he stepped out of bounds -- and reeling in a 68-yard reception on the opening play of the third quarter.

Dorsey also threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kellen Winslow Jr., and the sophomore tight end later reciprocated by touting him for the Heisman.

“Palmer’s a good quarterback, but Dorsey deserves it, plain and simple,” Winslow said.

That’s just one man’s opinion, of course. Similar pitches are being made all over the country by people promoting Palmer, McGahee, Penn State running back Larry Johnson, Iowa quarterback Brad Banks and others. Voters have until midday Wednesday to make their decision.

Virginia Tech Coach Frank Beamer, for one, wouldn’t mind McGahee getting it. But not for reasons you might think.

“My vote is for McGahee,” he said. Then, he added a hint of Big East wishful thinking: “And he shouldn’t bother to hang around here anymore.”