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.
This is such a ridiculous and ignorant claim for "Canes fans" to make.
Just because Vinnie had a number of INTs? That ONE STAT is sufficient to slander the guy?
Let's review.
Prior to the ECU game at the end of the year, Vinnie had wrecked his scooter on campus. We had a bye week between the Tulsa game and the ECU game, and with the Fiasco Bowl pushed back to January 2, that means that Vinnie did not play in a game for 48 days. That is a SEVEN WEEK layoff.
Then, you have the Sandusky factor. Sandusky used a nickel defense against Miami BUT WITH FIVE LINEBACKERS INSTEAD OF FIVE DEFENSIVE BACKS. And 4 of the 5 interceptions were by linebackers (Conlan and Giftopolous). Not to mention that Sandusky was instructing his players to hit Vinnie as hard and as frequently and as late as possible, due to the injury. To be honest, Vinnie was not the smartest guy on the planet, and so it took him some time to realize that Pedo State was disguising its coverages.
And look at the stats. We outgained Pedo State 445-162. Miami was never BEHIND in the game until the final 8 minutes. And in addition to Vinnie's 5 INTs, we had 2 fumbles, which were just as damaging to our efforts. Plus 4 sacks.
And to top it all off, we marched 70 yards down the field in under 3 minutes to get to first and goal inside the 10 yard line, with a chance to win the game. But Vinnie was sacked on second down and then threw an incompletion on third down.
So here's what happened on the final drive. We had 2 timeouts. 3:07 on the clock. 23 yard line.
1, Vinnie scrambles to the 27 yard line, clock running.
2. Ball snapped at 2:36, incomplete pass, clock stops at 2:31.
3. Incomplete pass to Bratton, clock stops at 2:24.
4. 4th and 6, Vinnie completes a 31 yard pass to Brian Blades, clock stops at 2:16 for out-of-bounds.
5. 1st and 10, 7 yard pass to Blades down to the 35, clock running.
6. Ball snapped at 1:51 and Vinnie completes a 9 yard pass to Perriman down to the 26, clock momentarily stops for first down.
7. Ball snapped at 1:34 and Vinnie completes a 4 yard pass to Irvin down to the 22, clock running.
8. Ball snapped at 1:08, Vinnie completes a 12 yard pass to Irvin inside the 10, clock stops for first down. Pedo State injury TO.
9. Ball snapped at 0:52, 4 yard pass to Irvin just inside the 6, clock running.
10. Ball snapped at 0:30, Vinnie is sacked at the 13 yard line, timeout called (ione remaining) at 0:25.
11. Incomplete pass at 0:18.
12. INT at the 1 yard line.
A couple of things to note.
The mythical "coaches discussed running during the timeout, but Vinnie insisted on passing" never happened. First, all of the positive yardage on the drive came from the pass. More importantly, there's no way in **** we were running on 3rd and goal from the 13 with only 25 seconds left and one timeout, down by 4 points. That is just insane.
Second, JJ should have called a timeout after the 3rd down incompletion to have more time to discuss and call a better play.
But in no way was this "Vinnie throwing the game". He marched us down to the 5 before it all fell apart.