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Random off-season question regarding the 87 fiesta bowl vs Penn State

Crystal Ball said:
I’m a young buck and wasn’t around for this game.

When this game gets brought up I have often times seen Canes fans suggest that Vinny intentionally threw the game.

Is this something that is generally accepted as fact by Canes fans, or just speculation?

I know it’s random and some of y’all old heads prob don’t wanna think about that game but I’ve always been curious.
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NO CHANCE he tossed it. He was injured. Had a bad game. Don't listen to the BS youngster. He would not have been draftred #1 if he threw the national title game.
 
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I was always under the impression that Vinny was effectively still hungover (and hurting from a fall) after some post-Heisman-winning celebrating.

Edit: is that apocryphal? Literally what I heard way back then and it’s the story that makes most sense to me.
 
We will most likely never know the full story. But Vinny played like he was throwing the game even if he wasn’t. Look at that final interception again. He scanned the field, located the largest crowd of blue jerseys, and tossed the ball right into the middle of it.

That game will always be in the top 5 of worst, biggest, and most inexcusable losses in UM history.
 
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filmcane said:
Why should Vinny not have played
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If I am not mistaken, he was in some sort of accident. Nothing major but he did sustain some injuries. That along with other things others have mentioned here maybe contributed to his bad performance.

On a side note, Geoff Torretta was the backup to Vinny, not Gino.
 
Crystal Ball said:
I’m a young buck and wasn’t around for this game.

When this game gets brought up I have often times seen Canes fans suggest that Vinny intentionally threw the game.

Is this something that is generally accepted as fact by Canes fans, or just speculation?

I know it’s random and some of y’all old heads prob don’t wanna think about that game but I’ve always been curious.
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I'd simply like to take the chance to say fvck Vinny and his *****asshoeass self... It's not just an opinion.
 
caneULM said:
Vinny never should have played. If Torretta, starts, Miami wins. The thought I guess was you dont bench the Heisman winner in a title game.
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Clearly you are not aware that Toretta was not on the team right? Walsh came after Vinny then Craig Erickson…Jimmy has admitted this was the worse game he has ever coached
 
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TheOriginalCane said:
And what's your ******* point? Are you another one of the nutjobs who is going to cite that as "evidence" that Vinny "threw the game"?

What about the long completion to Michael Irvin that Irvin fumbled?

Let's see...

INT 1 - threw into double coverage:
View attachment 198862


INT2 - Vinny slips, recovers, underthrows and is undercut by the LB:
View attachment 198866
View attachment 198868


INT 3 - LB undercuts the throw again:
View attachment 198869


INT 4 - LB undercuts the throw AGAIN:
View attachment 198870


INT 5 - horrible underthrow into quadruple coverage...
View attachment 198871



So the photographic evidence is pretty clear. NOT ONE SINGLE TIME was there a "none of our players in the area" situation. NOT ONCE.

Twice, Vinny threw into double-coverage (or worse). Three times, he got sniped by a linebacker jumping underneath the throw.

EVERY SINGLE TIME, there was an intended receiver in the area.

Please stop telling falsehoods.
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Dear God having to relive this horror **** you….Pedo State had a good gameplan against Vincenzo at the end of the day, as Jimmy has stated this was his coaching performance. As the stats show if he would have taken the ball out of his hands and ground and pound with that defense we win. It was evident during the game, of course hindsight is always 20/20 but that is your job as HC assess what is happening live and adjust sadly we didn’t.

This is the joy and pain of football it is just one game 9 times out of ten we beat them, but, to quote the movie Little Giants, all you need is one time. Pedo State got that one time
 
Fzac75 said:
Clearly you are not aware that Toretta was not on the team right? Walsh came after Vinny then Craig Erickson…Jimmy has admitted this was the worse game he has ever coached
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Perhaps you've heard of Geoff Torretta, Gino's older brother.

Geoff Torretta, the guy who was dating UM diver Daphne Jongejans.

Geoff Torretta, the 2nd string QB behind Vinny Testaverde.

1658021342681.png
 
SWFLHurricane said:
@Rellyrell .....Dudes were Rollin around New Orleans till 4am day of the 93 Sugar Bowl....Absolutely No Curfew to speak of. Couple that with a Garbage *** game plan, that played Directly into Bama's strength, and it was Goodnight Irene....
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This is from a player who played that game, “we were all hungover.”
 
TheOriginalCane said:
I don't know what Canes fans you hang around with, but you need to find some better ones. Vinny did not "intentionally throw the game", it's insanity.

I realize he had a poor statistical day, but Ped State played great on defense that day as well. And that team was incredibly proud, if ANYONE had ANY credible evidence of Vinny doing that, I firmly believe that Vinny would be dead.

This nonsense about Vinny not playing well in big games is insane too. If anything, back then, Jimmy Johnson was always blamed for being a poor in-game coach. That's the truth, I was there, the headlines and discussions were ALWAYS about JJ being outcoached.

1985 home loss to #5 Florida, 35-23 - this was Vinny's first start. We lost our final 3 games in a row to end 1984, while the Gaytors won 9 in a row in 1984 to finish 9-1-1. Vinny went 24-40 for 278 yards, but Kerwin Bell went 20-28 for 248 yards and 4 TDs. We were actually up 21-20 and blew it in the 4th, including a Brett Perriman fumble on the Florida 10 that killed a scoring chance.

1985 road win over #3 Troy Aikman's and Jammin' Jamelle's Oklahoma Sooners, 27-14. Big game, big win. We were up 27-7 until Oklahoma scored the final TD halfway through the 4th. Vinny went 17-28 for 270 yards and 2 TDs.

1985 road win over #10 F$U, 35-27. Big game, big win. Vinny went 23-41 for 339 yards and 4 TDs.

1985-6 Sugar Bowl loss to #8 Tennessee, 35-7. Vinny went 23-44 for 237 yards with 1 TD against 3 INTs and 1 fumble. Tennessee blitzed 70% of the time, that is not a typo. Rough game.

1986 home win over #1 Oklahoma, 28-16. I was there for this one, it was pure insanity. We were up 21-3 in the third quarter, Vinny went 21-28 for 261 yards and 4 TDs. This game is widely considered to be Vinny's Heisman game, as he had two memorable bits. One was when he completed 14 straight passes. The other was his famous long scramble when Oklahoma nearly ripped the jersey off of him.

1986 home win over #20 FSU, 41-23. I was there for this one too, Vinny went 21-35 for 315 yards and 2 TDs.

1986-7 Fiasco Bowl loss to #2 Pedo State, 14-10. While we know the stats of this game, it should be noted that Vinny had not played since the November 15th game against Tulsa, as his scooter accident knocked him out of the regular season finale against East Carolina. Maybe Vinny shouldn't have played in the bowl game, but he did. People forget about that Ped State pedophile Jerry Sandusky instructing his defense to injure Vinny. At any rate, we had a shot to win the game late if we had just handed off, but Vinny was so desperate to redeem himself that he asked JJ to pass it instead.

But Vinny definitely DID NOT throw that bowl game. Vinny played well in all of the big games, he just got outplayed by Kerwin Bell in his first-ever start, he got blitzed into oblivion by Tennessee, and he was harassed all game by the Jerry Sandusky pedophiles. Out of 7 top games against top opponents, Vinny had comparable stats each game, just had a bunch of sacks against Tennessee in a bowl game and a bunch of picks against Pedo State in a bowl game.
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Given that Vinny also threw 18tds to 41 ints during his first two subsequent NFL seasons it seems more than plausible that he had a bad game against a talented team.
 
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ItsAUThing.com said:
All the conversations I recalled over the years talked about Vinny's head not being in it; that he'd recently gotten dumped by his lady, relationship trouble, etc.

Either way, should've pounded the rock more with Alonzo Highsmith late and not put it on erratic Vinny ... but as other's have said, he was the Heisman-winner and could've just as easily have thrown a game-winning touchdown late, instead of another pick.

Canes should've won 17-14 even with that horrible outing.

Side note, good riddance to Sun Devil Stadium and that era of the Fiasco Bowl.

Lost to UCLA in 1984 season.... Penn State in 1986 season... skunked by Arizona for 1993 season and robbed in 2002 season. Only win I ever saw in person out there was 47-10 over Arizona State in 1994—a young Jake Plummer for ASU and a lot of the guys who went on to play for that great 1996 undefeated team they had (Pat Tillman, Keith Poole, etc.)
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I am the opposite. I’ve never been to a Miami game (football, basketball, or baseball) that they lost. Granted all of the games that I went to were between 1990-1994, but it’s still a fun streak for me.
 
GojiraCane said:
I am the opposite. I’ve never been to a Miami game (football, basketball, or baseball) that they lost. Granted all of the games that I went to were between 1990-1994, but it’s still a fun streak for me.
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Hmmm, you need to be sure to go to the A&M game this year, to maybe bring us some luck!
 
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TheOriginalCane said:
Perhaps you've heard of Geoff Torretta, Gino's older brother.

Geoff Torretta, the guy who was dating UM diver Daphne Jongejans.

Geoff Torretta, the 2nd string QB behind Vinny Testaverde.

View attachment 199047
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I do remember Geoff, did not know the little tidbit about the diver, good for him. I was referencing the line of succession at QB. My bad if he meant Geoff and not Gino, as I have seen way too many times people’s timeline and historical references be way off.

Oh and once again **** you for making me relive the horror of ‘86 Fiesta Bowl.
 
Crystal Ball said:
I’m a young buck and wasn’t around for this game.

When this game gets brought up I have often times seen Canes fans suggest that Vinny intentionally threw the game.

Is this something that is generally accepted as fact by Canes fans, or just speculation?

I know it’s random and some of y’all old heads prob don’t wanna think about that game but I’ve always been curious.
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My stepfather watched it live and in color. He'll believe to his dying days that VT threw the game. He had that scooter accident pre game as well.

I sympathize with my stepfather, but I personally dont think VT threw the game.

I always thought of VT a lot like I think of Drew Bledsoe. Talented, but either succumbs to bad luck or brain farts. I still remember when VT broke his leg with the jets (watched it live as a kid).
 
Vinny busted his *** on his scooter and had to shut it down before the last regular season game. Come Fiesta Bowl time he hadn't sniffed a snap in a game for a month and a half. Jimmy started him anyways and learned a valuable lesson on his way to becoming one of the greatest coaches ever. If Toretta comes in or the run game sees 10-15 more snaps , UM probably wins that game.
 
Last edited:
Vinny absolutely did not “throw the game” internationally. Stop it. He just played so bad that it sure made it seem like he did.

Also, and there are others on this board who can corroborate this, but I was always told that Vinny’s prep leading to the game was so ****** that he was not invited to several of the reunions the ‘86 team had in the years afterwards. Think about that. The HEISMAN TROPHY winner. You don’t do that if the guy just plays like **** for a night.

I’ve heard it two ways, one was Vinny got involved with a flight attendant on the way out to AZ and spent much of the week banging her and not prepping. Another was a girl that was already out there. But I know several people who believe he was too busy with a broad to properly prep.

Also, I was told that several plays late in that game were actually called runs, and Vinny checked into passes and threw a pick.

All I know for sure is the ‘86 team is the 2nd best team Miami ever had. And somehow they didn’t win a natty, with that “somehow” almost solely attributed to Vinny. Miami outgained Penn State 445-162 and lost. Read that one more time. Miami had 445 yards of offense. Penn State had 162. And Miami lost.

But yes, there are valid reasons why many of the dudes on that team don’t like Vinny to this day. And it’s not just cause he didn’t play a good game.
 
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