Miami stadium saw most shocking play ever in college football with players bawling and record ‘tainted’

The Miami Hurricanes have history in the Orange Bowl, and not all of it is proud.

Carson Beck is the last quarterback standing between Fernando Mendoza’s Indiana Hoosiers juggernaut and a national championship.

Getty

It seems written in the stars that the Heisman winner will add one final accolade before joining the Las Vegas Raiders with the No. 1 pick in April’s NFL Draft.

His team went 15-0, but the No. 10 Hurricanes have pulled off several upsets in a fairytale journey of their own.

Monday’s game at Hard Rock Stadium is the latest edition of the second-oldest bowl game in the country, which can trace its history back to 1935. The Rose Bowl is No. 1.

Before moving to the home of the Miami Dolphins, it was held at the Miami Orange Bowl.

The iconic stadium was the venue for the Dolphins’ incredible unbeaten season under iconic coach Don Shula in 1972.

A year earlier, it witnessed one of the most controversial moments ever in the amateur game. The Gator Flop.

Miami faced off against the Florida Gators for the final game of the 1971 season.

Florida quarterback John Reaves needed 343 passing yards to break Jim Plunkett’s NCAA record of 7,544.

The Gators led 45-8 with the clock winding down and the Hurricanes were slowly edging up the field looking to score a consolation touchdown.

Florida used timeouts to try and give Reaves a shot and when that looked like failing, played their trump card.

Getty

Getty

Miami quarterback John Hornibrook snapped the ball on the eight-yard line and watched the Florida defense lie down to let him score an uncontested touchdown.

Reaves completed a pass to Carlos Alvarez as time expired to claim the record, but the fallout still lingers to this day in the fiery rivalry.

“The worst thing I have ever seen in football,” declared furious Canes coach Fran Curci at the time.

“I was appalled. I just couldn’t believe it. I thought this was so much against the spirit of the game that I came back out later and said it was a tainted record,” he fumed four decades later. “I was very, very angry. My players, they were just incensed. A couple of ’em were crying.”

Gator Flop lived long in the memory

ESPN chatted to the main protagonists in 2010 to get to the bottom of the legendary play.

Florida’s Harvin Clark could have saved his team some awkward questions if he hadn’t returned a fourth-quarter punt 82 yards for a touchdown, giving the ball right back to Miami.

NFL's Greatest......

Ranking the top 10......

Quarterbacks of all-time – Can anyone better Tom Brady?

Wide receivers of all-time – Does Randy Moss or Jerry Rice come out on top?

Running backs of all-time – Stacking Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and more

Tight ends of all-time – How does Travis Kelce compare?

“Harvin Clark, he caused me all kinds of misery over the years by running back that punt for a touchdown,” Florida coach Doug Dickey told ESPN. “If he hadn’t done that, we wouldn’t be talking about this today. That’s the real mistake I made, not having him fair catch that punt.”

Dickey insists he wanted his team to lie down figuratively but the call ended up being taken literally.

“I didn’t say to lay down, but I said to let ’em score,” he added. “When Harvin Clark went back in the huddle, I guess he’s the one who told ’em to lay down.

“And of course that was a little bit embarrassing to everyone. I was very surprised and a little disappointed. I figured they would snap the ball, we would mill around and they would score. What I should’ve said was, ‘Full speed, no tackling.’ That’s what I should’ve said. But at the same time, it was just kids having fun.”

Defensive back John Clifford was one of two players who didn’t lie down.

“The play came right at me, so I could have made the tackle, but I didn’t. I took the gratuitous Catholic genuflect. So I can’t be considered any better than anyone else out there,” he admitted. “And when John Hornibrook ran past me, he had the most disgusting look on his face I had ever seen. He was definitely not happy. And I was embarrassed. I was.”

Getty

Safety Burgess Owens — later a first-round draft pick for the New York Jets admitted he was humiliated and cried on his way to the locker room.

Canes running back Chuck Foreman, who won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1973 didn’t mince his words.

“As far as my whole football career is concerned, that was the most humiliating, low-down thing that’s ever happened,” he declared. “And from that point on, I never respected the University of Florida, its program or its players. I don’t mean today, and I want to make that clear — I mean back in that era.”

Reeves’ record was broken in 1978 and has been obliterated since in the era of passing football.

Case Keenum is now No. 1 with 19,217 yards.

Miami and Florida don’t play as often these days, but plenty of Gators fans are likely to be rooting for Mendoza’s Hoosiers on Monday.