SPORTS USA TODAY z MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2019 z 3C
ORLANDO, Fla. – With its countless
mistakes, parade of errors, comedic plot
twists and nail-biting tension, No. 8
Florida’s 24-20 win against Miami was
the perfect encapsulation of what
makes college football both terrible and
lovable.
“It was a game filled, like most open-
ing games like this are, with a ton of mis-
takes from both teams,” said Miami
coach Manny Diaz.
It was the fourth quarter of an NFL
preseason game, only less coherent,
with another significant difference: NFL
preseason games clear out early, if they
fill at all, while the Camping World Kick-
off featured 66,000 fans living and dy-
ing with every snap Saturday night.
There were fake punts – from Florida
on the first series of the game, no less,
from deep inside the Gators’ own terri-
tory. There were fourth-down tries and
fourth-down conversions. There were
two quarterbacks running for their
lives, chased by defenders collapsing
through porous offensive lines. Delay-
of-game penalties. False starts.
Florida penalties for pass interfer-
ence that became Miami’s most produc-
tive play call on offense, extending to-
ward the end zone a final drive that nev-
er should’ve even crossed midfield. Baf-
fling coaching decisions. Even more
baffling work from the referees. Quar-
terbacks throwing into double coverage.
Quarterbacks throwing at defenders.
Botched plays on special teams. A
missed field goal attempt, of course. It
took well over three hours to pass 60
minutes of football time, of which about
12 were spent actually playing football.
This was a slightly updated, far more
flashy version of college football’s debut
150 years ago: Princeton 6, Rutgers 4.
So it was football at its worst, which
is to say it was college football at is best.
Or, if not its best, this was college foot-
ball in its most distilled and pure ver-
sion: full of errors, littered with miscues,
utterly unpredictable and hard to ig-
nore.
“We’re certainly reminded college
football is back,” said Florida coach Dan
Mullen, “and it looks like we’re in for an-
other exciting season.”
Yes, college football is back. In terms
of general execution, it will get better
from here. One thing was clear at half-
time: This was not a preview of the Col-
lege Football Playoff. Miami never pre-
tended to have those expectations
heading into Diaz’s debut, especially
with the Hurricanes part of a large group
of teams in the meaningless race for
second place in the Atlantic Coast Con-
ference. On the other hand, Florida has
aspirations of taking that next step in
Mullen’s second season, a goal that
based on Saturday night is outlandish
even by preseason standards.
“I feel like we were fully prepared,”
said Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks.
“Obviously, I didn’t go out there and try
to throw a pick. That’s not what I
planned to do. That was not in our game
plan.”
The game plan was interesting. Flori-
da dialed up a fake punt four plays into
its first series, with 8:10 left in the first
quarter and the Gators at their 36-yard
line. Asked afterward why he felt com-
fortable taking that chance so early in
the game, Mullen implied it was the plan
all along. Asked if he would’ve called the
same play even closer to his own end
zone, Mullen said, “Inside the 10? No.”
In all, Florida attempted four fourth-
down conversions and made them all,
equaling the number of third-down con-
versions from both teams. The Gators
also committed four turnovers. The two
teams combined for 24 penalties for 218
yards. In one series in the second quar-
ter, Miami was penalized for a false
start, having too many men on the field
and, for good measure, another false
start. It wasn’t even the worst series of
the game for the Hurricanes’ offensive
line.
Miami did debut a new turnover
chain, however, calling the new model“Turnover Chain 3.0,” this one made
even more blinding by the addition of a
bedazzled “305” charm, for the city’s
original area code, at its base. It weighs
2 kilograms, is roughly 10 inches wide,
contains nearly 2,000 white sapphire
stones and took about three months to
complete, the school shared. Miami
added in a new piece of jewelry: the
“Touchdown Rings,” given to offensive
players, are made of orange and green
sapphires.
The game’s final series – not count-
ing Florida’s final snap in victory forma-
tion – was a masterpiece, somehow
spanning 10 plays and more than four
minutes but losing yardage: Miami be-
gan the drive at Florida’s 25-yard line
and ended it at the Gators’ 26. First, an
unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to
push the Hurricanes back 15 yards. Ten
plays, three sacks, three completions,
four incompletions, one delay of game
and two penalties for pass interference
later, Miami was back where it started.
“I must say, honestly, it felt (like) my
life clock was going probably at about a
thousand times faster,” Mullen said. “I
mean, every second was probably like a
thousand minutes or days. I don’t know.
The last five minutes of the game I think
I aged like 10 years.”
Yeah, there will be better games than
this. There will be better teams than
these, even if both will undoubtedly im-
prove: Miami’s youth at quarterback
and elsewhere suggests improvement,while Florida can’t play much worse.
(Mullen was all smiles postgame, but
only because the final result was a bit of
a coach’s dream: a rivalry win ugly
enough to give him an excuse to get after
his team in the two weeks before the Ga-
tors’ next game.) In the grand scheme of
the chase that defines college football’s
season – which teams reach the Playoff- the impact of Florida and Miami
doesn’t move the needle.
All of which makes it perfect, of
course. As a sport, college football is
more often than not a battle of two
teams trying everything they can to not
out-worse their opponent. There are
programs that make it look easy: Clem-
son, Alabama, Georgia and the like.
Even those teams have their moments;
the Crimson Tide faked a field goal
against Clemson last January and used
the kicker as the lead blocker. Most
teams have those same moments, over
and over again.
And most games are sloppy. Most
games defy explanation. It’s because of
this sloppiness that games like Florida
and Miami are so entertainingly unpre-
dictable – because in the end, after the
interceptions and penalties, Miami had
the ball deep in Florida territory with a
minute left and a chance to win the
game. It was a terrible game, and college
football kicked off 2019 in midseason
form.
“After 150 years, it hasn’t dulled at
all,” Mullen said.
Florida-Miami shows game at worst, best
Paul Myerberg
Columnist
USA TODAYHurricanes defensive back Gurvan Hall Jr. pressures Florida quarterback Feleipe Franks during the first half Saturday
evening. JASEN VINLOVE/USA TODAY SPORTSAs expected, the Big Three of men’s
tennis – Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal
and Roger Federer – secured the top
three seeds in the U.S. Open. They have
won a combined54 Grand Slam tourna-
ment titles. The last time one of them
didn’t win a Grand Slam event was the
U.S. Open in 2016, when Stan Wawrinka
upset Djokovic.
Could these tennis juggernauts’
three-year reign over the sport come to
an end this year at Flushing Meadows?
USA TODAY Sports examines which on-
the-rise players have what it takes to
upset one of the Big Three and poten-
tially hoist the trophy.
zDominic Thiem:Ranked No. 4 be-
hind the Big Three, the 25-year-old has
faced Djokovic, Federer and Nadal on
the big stage and has beaten them all in
smaller tournaments. The Austrian won
at Indian Wells in March and has
reached the past two French Open fi-
nals, bowing out to Nadal both times.
zNick Kyrgios: The racket-slam-
ming rebel has shades of John McEnroe
with his on-court eruptions at chair um-
pires (he threw a chair onto the court in
May). While the Australian’s bad-boy
ways don’t fit in at the more eloquent
Wimbledon, his personality and flair fit
right in at the more eccentric Open.
Ranked No. 28 at Flushing Meadows
and known for his serve and aggressive-
ness, Kyrgios has been a mainstay in the
top half of the ATP rankings for a while,
but he’s reached Grand Slam quarterfi-
nals just twice in his career at the 2014
Wimbledon and 2015 Australian Open.
The 24-year-old is best known for being
a thorn in Nadal’s side by serving under-
handed against him, hitting him with a
ball and trash-talking. He’s also beaten
Djokovic and Federer in smaller tourna-
ments.
zAlexander Zverev:The German 22-
year-old has gotten praise from the Big
Three as an up-and-comer, with Nadal
calling him a “clear possible No. 1” of the
future in 2018 and Djokovic adding last
year, “hopefully he can surpass me.”
Zverev upset Federer on grass at the
2016 Halle Open for his first ATP title.
Despite reaching No. 3 in the world in
2017 and making his first Grand Slam
quarterfinal at Wimbledon in ’18, he isn’t
exactly grooving at majors in 2019. Still,
he’s ranked No. 6 at Flushing Meadows
and positioned on Nadal’s side of the
bracket.
zRoberto Bautista Agut: Ranked
No. 10 and seeded on Nadal’s side of the
bracket, the Spaniard is known for his
defensive style as a counter-puncher
and has more experience at 31 than
some of the other contenders. He’s nev-
er beaten Federer or Nadal, but he’s
beaten Djokovic three times. He’s hot
this year, having reached the quarterfi-nals of the Australian Open and semi-
finals of Wimbledon, where he was the
only player in the draw not to lose a set
leading into the quarterfinals.
zDaniil Medvedev:This surging 23-
year-old has used the summer circuit to
climb the ATP rankings. He wonthis
month’s Cincinnati Masters, beating
Djokovic in the semifinals. Before that
he took down top-10 players Thiem and
Karen Khachanov at the Rogers Cup.
That helped give the Russian the U.S.
Open fifth seed and puts him on Djokov-ic’s and Federer’s side of the bracket.
Medvedev is known for his serve, aver-
aging 128 mph on his second serves.
zAndrey Rublev:Another Russian,
this unranked 21-year-old might be Rog-
er Federer’s latest rival, having obliter-
ated the 38-year-old at the Cincinnati
Masters6-3, 6-4. Known for his strong
forehand but riddled by injuries, a now-
healthy Rublev seems poised for a
breakout in New York. He’ll have his
hands full with eighth-ranked Stefanos
Tsitsipas in the first round.US Open: Six who
could beat Djokovic,
Nadal and Federer
Nick Kyrgios, known for his serve and aggressiveness, enters the U.S. Open as
the No. 28-ranked men’s player in the world. AARON DOSTER/USA TODAY SPORTSScott Gleeson
USA TODAY