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Miami's Jacory Harris and Aldarius Johnson had been there together before.
Maybe that's why they made it look so easy Saturday, when they saved Miami's Atlantic Coast Conference hopes in a 28-27 victory over Wake Forest.
Johnson somehow outfought Wake Forest cornerback Josh Bush for a fingertip grab on fourth and 16, a convert-or-else play that went for 29 yards with 1:32 left and was the key in a last-ditch rally that vaulted the Hurricanes past the Demon Deacons.
"That shows you how far we've come as a football team," Hurricanes coach Randy Shannon said Sunday. "That shows you what kind of character this football team has."
Miami (6-2, 3-2 ACC) led for only 68 seconds of the game.
The late heroics were enough for Miami to overcome a school-record 33 first downs, 555 yards of Wake Forest offense and a 27-14 deficit with less than 12 minutes remaining.
And on a day where there were plenty of big plays for the Hurricanes, who remained one loss behind Georgia Tech in the ACC Coastal Division, Harris-to-Johnson stood tallest.
As high school seniors in 2007, Harris and Johnson hooked up on a last-minute fourth-down play that kept Miami Northwestern's 99-yard winning drive in a state semifinal game alive. The team went on to claim the mythical national championship.
So on Saturday, was there any doubt where that fourth-down pass was going?
"Not really," Johnson said.
Johnson and Bush leaped at the same time, and for a split second as the pass arrived, both had a hand on the ball. Johnson won that joust, and suddenly, Harris could do no wrong.
Next play: Harris to Travis Benjamin down the seam for 17 yards.
Next play: Harris to Benjamin, who made a sliding 13-yard catch just past the goal line.
Touchdown, 'Canes win.
"Give it to Wake Forest," Harris said. "It just so happened that we came out with the victory."
What made this one particularly sweet for Shannon was that the postgame locker room was filled with Hurricanes who could watch the tape Sunday and legitimately feel like they made a play to win the ballgame.
- On Damien Berry's 3-yard touchdown run with 3 seconds left before halftime, tight end Tervaris Johnson (who Miami picked as its star of the game) made the first key block, freshman running back Mike James (playing the role of fullback) somehow got in the way of two Wake Forest defenders, and left tackle Jason Fox sealed another Demon Deacon off. It was enough to get Berry into the end zone by the slimmest of margins.
- When Wake Forest's Devon Brown made the poor decision to try to catch a punt in the rain with his body pointing at the Miami sideline, the ball squirted free and Hurricanes defender Sam Shields never broke stride, corralling the fumble to set up Harris' 2-yard TD pass to Tervaris Johnson with 11:47 to play.
- Defensive tackle Allen Bailey was nearly unblockable at times again, with two more sacks.
There was more. But everything paled next to Aldarius Johnson's leaping grab from his high school quarterback.
"A lot of things went bad and Wake Forest did a great job," said Shannon, whose team hosts Virginia - a team Harris engineered another big rally against to beat in overtime last season - on Saturday. "But we had opportunities to capitalize late in the game."
Converted them, too.
It was the first time since October 23, 1999, that Miami gave up at least the first 17 points of a game and won. The Hurricanes rallied to beat Boston College that day, needing a fourth-and-17 conversion in the final moments while erasing a 24-0 deficit on the march toward the school's fifth national title.
And there's some serious signs of symmetry at play here.
In 1997, Miami won five games and missed a bowl game.
In 2007, Miami won five games and missed a bowl game.
In 1999, there was a miracle comeback.
In 2009, there's been another miracle comeback.
Time will tell if it means Miami is truly on the path to being great again.
"It's starting to change, just a little bit," Shannon said. "We've got to stay focused as a team, but I think the players really, really, truly understand how good they can be."
