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CNN Live At Daybreak

Miami Hurricanes Win Rose Bowl

Aired January 04, 2002 - 06:54   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The Miami Hurricanes are celebrating a national championship after winning last night's Rose Bowl.

CNN's Tom Rinaldi tells us how they did it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM RINALDI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You can forget the complex formulas, don't add up any equations, forget about the alphabet of the BCS, Miami showed everyone just where they could put their polls because excellence ultimately needs no analysis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We knew this team inside and out, and especially our defense did a great job all week long in preparing for the option and really showed it. We knew we were going to be dominant. We have so much talent on this team, and it's just a matter of going out there and executing the game plan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They did dominant, that's the truth. You know they came out and played a great football game. And we thought that -- you know we had to believe in ourselves and come out and try to give them the best shot that we could.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They played well from the offense, defense, special teams. And when it came down to it, they executed, they made big plays, and they -- I think they proved to everybody tonight that they're the best team in the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know, and a lot of people might say Oregon should have been here after looking at the score and things like that, we just had to play whoever we -- was here. I can't really even judge if they deserved to be here.

RINALDI: In every phase, in every facet, Miami needed just one half of football to show its complete power forcing Nebraska turnovers, stuffing the Huskers No. 1 rushing attack and then airing out its own offense in record-setting ways.

Andre Johnson, 160 yards in the first two quarters. Ken Dorsey, 258 yards passing in the first half. Time of possession, just over 11 minutes, a performance that actually exceeded the numbers and the records.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We knew we were going to come out and dominate. We knew we were going to get out on them early. What we -- what our problem -- what we needed to make sure to do was to maintain it the whole time. That was -- that was our focus.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Usually during the season we come out on defense kind of flat during the first half. This time we talked about it in the locker room not coming out flat, coming out hidden, coming out showing who's going to be the bully, who's going to be the dominant person on the field, and we came out and proved it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we still had some mistakes early on and committed some penalties that stopped some drives, but I mean, you know, that's the type of -- you know that's the type of team we are. I mean even though we have a -- had a really dominant half, we still see -- we had room for improvement and stuff, but definitely we were happy with it, and it was just a matter of controlling the clock in the second half.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought we had a good game plan for them. I felt we (ph) prepared harder for this game than they did, and it's kind of a slap in the face that first half just how well they came out.

RINALDI (on camera): While critics of the BCS system will point to Nebraska's showing in this game, Miami is a champion beyond argument in winning its 22nd consecutive game and capping a perfect season in winning its 5th National Championship at the 2002 Rose Bowl. Miami gets the trophy every collegiate team wants, the Waterford crystal football that they hold over the collegiate football world.

At the 2002 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, I'm Tom Rinaldi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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