Ten years ago seems like forever

It's been a long time since this happened. Ten years, to be exact.

BY David Villavicencio

A full decade has passed since the last time the Miami Hurricanes won a national championship in football.

Some would argue that it really should be nine years and that the Canes were robbed against Ohio State but I think everyone would agree that it has been far too long since Miami was at the pinnacle of the college football landscape.

The 2001 Canes were the greatest team in college football. People will argue that their own school's team from whatever year is the best ever but I can't think of any team that was more dominant than the group led by legendary quarterback Ken Dorsey and the incomparable Ed Reed.

Miami's football program looks nothing like it did ten years ago. They aren't even close to what they had from 2000-2002. No one could touch Miami's talent in that period. No one has come close to building what they had back then either.

Just because Miami is rebuilding doesn't mean that it won't return to national prominence. The turn around has taken longer than anyone had hoped, expected or would have liked but the Canes' return to greatness will happen.

Many believe Miami will get there under Al Golden's tutelage. No one knows for sure if that will be the case but Golden definitely has a plan in place to bring the Canes back to where they belong.

Proud Miami fans and alumni like me will have to endure some more tough years before we get there but we are all confident that it will happen again.

People said the Canes would never recover from probation and they proceeded to build the greatest team college football has ever seen.

Even with potential NCAA sanctions looming and a decade of less than stellar results by Miami's standards, we still know we will be back on top again one day. Coach Golden and his staff will not accept anything less than complete success.

Miami's future will soon mirror its past success. Until then, let's remember the greatness that was the 2001 team with some highlights of their victory over Nebraska in the Rose Bowl exactly 10 years ago today.