In their 58th season of football, the independent Hurricanes were led by fifth-year head coach Howard Schnellenberger and played their home games at the Orange Bowl.

Unranked, Miami lost their opener at Florida by 25 points, but finished the regular season at 10–1, ranked fifth, and were invited to the Orange Bowl.

Playing at home on January 2, the underdog Hurricanes upset top-ranked Nebraska 31–30, denying a two-point conversion attempt with less than a minute remaining.

[1][2][3][4] They climbed to first in the major polls to win the school's first national championship.

[11] Jeff Davis game-winning 19-yard field goal as time expired [12] [13][14]