Miami claims ‘championship’ of Florida

ATLANTA – The Miami Hurricanes were eliminated from the national championship early in the season and missed out on the conference championship late.

They settled for the state title Friday.

Devin Hester returned a blocked field goal 78 yards for a touchdown, Roscoe Parrish returned a punt 72 yards for a TD and the 14th-ranked Hurricanes defeated No. 20 Florida 27-10 in the Peach Bowl.

“Those guys are playmakers,” coach Larry Coker said. “Team speed is one thing, but to have the ability to make people miss and score touchdowns is a knack that Roscoe and Devin have.”

Miami also earned a third consecutive “state title” by beating Florida and Florida State in the same season, spoiled interim coach Charlie Strong’s debut and extended its winning streak against the Gators (7-5) to six games.

This time, the Hurricanes (9-3) didn’t need a strong performance from Brock Berlin. The senior quarterback who transferred from Florida in January 2002 torched his former team in a 38-33 comeback victory last year and mocked fans after the game.

Berlin finished 13 of 23 for 171 yards Friday. He had a 20-yard touchdown pass to Ryan Moore in the third quarter that made it 24-3 and ended his career 5-0 as a starter against Florida and Florida State.

Although Berlin stayed perfect against in-state competition, Miami’s special teams and defense did the most damage on New Year’s Eve.

“In big games like this, you can’t give up big plays,” Strong said. “Miami ended up getting big plays. They got the two big plays in the kicking game.”

Miami put constant pressure on Florida QB Chris Leak and had five sacks.

“Chris was never able to get comfortable in the pocket,” Strong said. “They got tons of pressure and a lot of sacks.”

Strong said the special teams breakdowns might not have happened had fired coach Ron Zook been around. Zook also was Florida’s special teams coordinator.