1996 Carquest Bowl
| 1996 Carquest Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 27, 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Pro Player Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Miami Gardens, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | SS Tremain Mack (Miami) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 46,418 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | TBS (Bob Neal, Mark May) | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1996 Carquest Bowl was the final game of the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season for the Miami Hurricanes and the Virginia Cavaliers.
The Hurricanes were co-champion (along with Virginia Tech) of the Big East Conference for the third straight season (second under Davis), but playing in a bowl game for the first time since the 1995 Orange Bowl due to a scandal that had made them ineligible the season before. The Cavaliers had finished 4th in the Atlantic Coast Conference after three losses by an average of 7 points and a late Virginia Tech (who had beaten Miami) loss knocked them out of the Top 25. This was Virginia's 2nd appearance and Miami's first in this bowl game, as Virginia had appeared in 1994.
Despite outrushing the Hurricanes and having less penaltes than them, Virginia was beset by injuries to quarterback Tim Sherman (who only went 3 of 10 for 27 yards before his arm injury) and tailback Tiki Barber (who had only 14 yards on 7 carries) early in the game. Yatil Green caught a touchdown pass from Ryan Clement early in the first quarter and Tremain Mack recovered a fumble and returned it 79 yards for a touchdown to give Miami a 14-0 lead with 4:47 left in the first. But Virginia responded :39 seconds later with a Ermane Crowell touchdown catch from Aaron Brooks to narrow the lead. Andy Crosland made it 17-7 early in the 2nd with a field goal, his only of the day. Late in the quarter, Virginia was driving when Mack returned a Brooks pass 42 yards for a touchdown, giving them a commanding 24-7 lead going into halftime. Brooks had a touchdown run late in the 3rd quarter to narrow it to 24-10. The Cavaliers tried to make it a one possession game with Rafael Garcia's field goal attempt, but Mack blocked the kick and a few plays later, Trent Jones made it 31-10 with a touchdown run. Virginia could only respond with a Thomas Jones touchdown run, but by that point there was only 7:74 left. This was Miami's first bowl win since the 1992 Orange Bowl.
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