Miami-San Diego State wasn't the Heisman showdown it was billed as. It was, however, one of the season's ugliest games, punctuated with two bench-clearing brawls, a scary injury, a player ejection and a death threat against Miami coach Dennis Erickson.
Erickson said he was told of the threat in the fourth quarter by athletic director Dave Maggard. Once Miami wrapped up the 63-17 win, security was tightened around the locker rooms. Erickson said he didn't know where the threat originated."It's a first for me," said Erickson, in his fourth season at Miami after stints as head coach at Washington State, Wyoming and Idaho.
"It's a little frightening, but anybody can call and do something like that," Erickson said. "I had my wife and two sons with me. That's why it's frightening."
The first brawl came in the early in the first quarter after Miami linebacker Jessie Armstead hit Aztec quarterback David Lowery just after he stepped out of bounds. SDSU lineman Tony Nichols shoved Armstead, and both benches emptied. No punches were thrown, but Nichols was whistled for a personal foul and the Aztecs had to punt from their 7.
Lowery was intercepted for touchdowns on consecutive drives in the third quarter. Lowery was leveled by Mark Caesar just after releasing the second interception and a shoving match between Caesar and SDSU lineman Carlson Leomiti ignited a brawl that sent both teams massing into one end zone. Aztec receiver DeAndre Maxwell was ejected.
Caesar called the Aztecs "a bunch of low-class, cheap-shot artists. That's all they were looking for, was a fight. At that point in the game, they really couldn't beat us."
The Aztecs and Hurricanes also brawled in 1990.
"The four years we played them, they've been that way," Nichols said. "It's the intimidation factor. We fought them three times. But I'm not blaming them."
Erickson bristled when asked about the brawls.
"That happened last week, too, didn't it?" Erickson said, referring to a halftime melee between San Diego State and Fresno State. "It's funny that we play 10 football games and we don't get in a fight and all of a sudden the 11th game we get in a fight. Tell me about it."
A 16-game contract between the schools that started in 1989 will be interrupted for the next two seasons because of Miami's Big East commitments. The series is scheduled to resume in 1995. Miami has won four straight against the Aztecs and leads the overall series 5-1.