Part of the series 149 Weeks: Why the Miami Hurricanes Were the NFL’s Best Team of the 2000s
Between Week 15 of the 2002 NFL season and Week 10 of the 2011 NFL season, at least one Miami Hurricane alumnus scored at least one touchdown in every NFL regular season week.
To most, The Streak is a neat anecdote. Trivia. A fragment of pride during a 20-year stint in the college football wilderness. It spanned eight years, 10 months, and 29 days. Most of the 2000s. More than a two-term president.
But if you really think about it. If you dissect The Streak. If you boil it down to its component parts, like the volume of touchdowns scored, the consistency with which they were scored, and their dispersion across the Miami alumni group…
The Streak is the most impressive thing the University of Miami football program has ever done.
Priming The Streak
Before dissecting The Streak, it’s worth asking…
How?
How did University of Miami alumni manage not merely more touchdowns than other alumni groups, but nearly 20% more than the second-most prolific group?
How did Miami alums manage not merely a longer consecutive touchdown streak, but a streak more than double the second longest during the time span.
What forces converged to enable such a maelstrom of touchdowns?
The answer’s not very interesting.
Miami had more talent. More in both quantity and quality.
Butch Davis arrived in Coral Gables as its new head coach just days before National Signing Day in 1995. His task: keep the program from bursting at its seams.
Miami was fresh off a national title game appearance (a loss to Nebraska in the 1995 Orange Bowl) but lumbering toward NCAA sanctions expected to knee-cap the program. Some even wanted it killed.1
The Pell Grant scandal, in which an athletic department employee helped athletes falsify federal grant applications, had hung over the program since the story broke in June 1991. With a years-long NCAA investigation expected to resolve, sanctions and scholarship reductions looming, and a head coaching vacancy so close to signing day, recruits in 1995 were wary of joining the Hurricanes.
“I was recruited hard by UM and [assistant] Coach [Randy] Shannon,” defensive lineman and future sixth overall pick Corey Simon told the Miami Herald, “but there were all the coaching problems in addition to the possible violations, and I just didn’t want to get caught up in that situation.”
Davis served as Jimmy Johnson’s defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator in the 1980s and was a big reason Miami gathered the talent that fueled its most dominant era.
Fifteen Miami Hurricanes became first-round draft picks between 1982 and 1992, and Davis recruited or coached many of them. Cortez Kennedy went to six Pro Bowls, Jerome Brown went to two before his tragic passing, and Jessie Armstead, whom Davis watched choose the Hurricanes in the very first “pick a hat” announcement2, went to five.
And yet, somehow, the collective talent Miami produced in that era falls short of the talent Davis collected a decade later, even in the midst of NCAA-mandated scholarship reductions.
Davis cobbled together a respectable class in his measly one-week recruiting window in 1995. He also signed Duane Starks, a future first-round draft pick, and even flipped top recruit Magic Benton from Florida State.
The next year, the first in which NCAA sanctions halved Miami’s available scholarships, Davis signed future NFL first-round picks Bubba Franks, Edgerrin James, and Damione Lewis. He followed that up with Ed Reed, Reggie Wayne, and Dan Morgan in 1997. Santana Moss also enrolled in 1997 on a track scholarship and walked onto the football team; Davis awarded him the team’s final scholarship ahead of the season.
Year after year, despite the stink and restraint of NCAA sanctions, Davis stocked the program with talent reminiscent of the teams a decade prior.
His efforts culminated in 2000 as Davis’ Hurricanes defeated #1 Florida State for the first time in his five-year tenure, then beat #2 Virginia Tech and climbed to #2 in the AP and Coaches Polls.
Miami finished the 2000 season with the second-best offense by points scored (42.6) and fifth-best defense by points allowed (15.5). They’d defeated FSU, ranked #3 in the final polls, but the BCS computers, their rickety vacuum tubes devoid of logic as well as air, dinged the one-loss Hurricanes for an early-season loss to Washington and bizarrely deprived Miami a shot at the national title.3 But that’s a story for another time.
Davis accepted the head coaching position of the Cleveland Browns after the season and left Miami, its cupboards once again abundant.
Some call the 2001 Miami Hurricanes the greatest college football team of all time. Skim the roster and you might agree.456
Imagine this backfield: Clinton Portis, Willis McGahee, Frank Gore, Najeh Davenport.
And these pass-catchers: Andre Johnson, Jeremy Shockey, Kellen Winslow II, Roscoe Parrish.
And this offensive line: Bryant McKinnie, Vernon Carey, Brett Romberg, Chris Myers
And this secondary: Ed Reed, Sean Taylor, Antrel Rolle, Mike Rumph, Phillip Buchanon.
And this linebacker corps: D.J. Williams, Jonathan Vilma, Rocky McIntosh.
And this defensive line: Vince Wilfork, Jerome McDougle, William Joseph.
The talent, the depth. It’s jaw-dropping, the culmination of years of recruiting prowess, roster-wide buy-in, and the player development that again turned Miami into an NFL pipeline.
That 2001 roster produced 38 NFL draft picks, 17 of them first-rounders. If you recall, Miami produced 15 first-rounders in the program’s most successful era, between 1982 and 1992. Now, from one roster, 17 first-rounders.
Between 1999 and 2011, 48 Hurricanes were selected in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft, more than any other program during that span. And of those 48 players, more than half were first-round picks, also more than any other program.
That’s where Miami stands apart.
The Hurricanes sent lots of players into the NFL. When The Streak began in Week 15 2002, there were 31 active Miami alums on NFL rosters, sixth among college programs. When it ended in Week 10 2011, there were 36, second among college programs.
But Miami stands apart not for the number of players it sent to the NFL. It stands out for its outsized proportion of top-caliber players in this era. Players who’d leave an indelible mark on the NFL, nine of them among the NFL’s all-time touchdown scorers, four of them already Hall of Famers.
The Streak was inevitable.
The Streak in Six Charts
We love streaks, especially in sports. We rank sports’ greatest streaks. We chronicle them in film, legendary and obscure alike. We write books that send them off into prosperity, and we share them with our kids.
The mythical streaks get the proper noun treatment. Because why would we call them anything but “The Streak”? Dig into the 149 weeks comprising Miami’s streak and you’ll grow to appreciate why it earns its proper noun.
A theme of The Streak is margin. Not just victory but margin of victory.
The Miami Hurricanes of the 2000s era NFL were collectively comparable only to the likes of Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, and Usain Bolt in superiority over the field.
It’s Woods winning the 2000 U.S. Open by a record 15 strokes in an otherwise tight tournament.7 It’s Phelps breaking world records a body length ahead of his closest competitors. It’s Bolt winning the 100 meters gold a full stride ahead of the field.
The talent to score at a volume far surpassing that of every other alumni group. The consistency to do it every week for nearly nine years. And the dispersion of talent that made The Streak inevitable.
It’s difficult to put it into words. So let’s put it into charts.
Volume
Volume usually accompanies a lengthy streak. Do something every day, and you’re bound to do it a lot.
Joe DiMaggio had 91 total hits during his 56-game hitting streak in 1941, 19 more than the 72 hit by Lou Finney and Terry Moore over the same span.
Wilt Chamberlain holds the record for most consecutive NBA games with at least 30 points, hitting that mark 65 times between November 4, 1961 and February 22, 1962. His 3,260 points during that span were about 1,300 more than those scored by the second-highest scorer, Walt Bellamy.
Chart 1: Touchdowns by Hurricanes
The Miami Hurricanes alumni group scored at least one NFL touchdown for 149 consecutive weeks between Week 15 2002 and Week 10 2011. And more than one touchdown in 139 of those weeks. Six-hundred sixty-eight (668) touchdowns in all.
In all, 35 Hurricanes contributed at least one touchdown to The Streak. Clinton Portis led with 73, then Reggie Wayne (68), Willis McGahee (63), Santana Moss (53), and Andre Johnson (52).
Chart 2: Touchdowns Relative to Miami
The Tennessee alumni group produced the second-most NFL touchdowns during the 149-week span comprising Miami’s streak with 558. They were followed by Michigan with 521, USC with 487, and Purdue with 381.
Take a look at the range plot above. Those are the 20 alumni groups that produced the most NFL touchdowns during Miami’s streak. The Hurricanes are a remote island, a few alumni groups inch closer but remain miles away.
Not just victory, but margin of victory.
Miami alumni scored 16.5% more touchdowns than Tennessee alumni, 22.0% more than Michigan alumni, 27.1% more than USC alumni, 43.0% more than Purdue alumni, and nearly double the touchdowns of Virginia alumni.
All the more remarkable, aside from Miami, the top alumni groups during this period were led by a prolific, usually Hall of Fame, passer. (Just wait until we remove the passing touchdowns from the analysis. But that’s Chapter 8.)
Chart 3: Touchdowns by Week
Miami didn’t need a prolific passer. That’s because The Streak didn’t slink along, one Hurricane scoring this week and another the next. Miami alums scored in bunches.
The week after Portis and Kenny Holmes kicked off The Streak in Week 15 2002 with five touchdowns between them, four Hurricanes combined for six touchdowns in Week 16. Four combined for five touchdowns in Week 17. Two combined for three touchdowns to start the 2003 season. Six combined for six touchdowns in Week 2. And then four combined for six touchdowns in Week 3.
It wasn’t until the sixth week of The Streak, Week 4 2003, that only a single Hurricane scored an NFL touchdown. And that was a nail-biter, but more on that in Chapter 3.
Combined, Hurricanes alumni averaged 4.5 NFL touchdowns per week during the 149 weeks comprising The Streak, nearly a full touchdown more than the 3.7 touchdowns per week averaged by Tennessee, and about two full touchdowns more per week than Purdue and Virginia alums.
Consistency
Consistency is the hallmark of any streak. Its definition, really. To do every day what most are capable of doing only occasionally or, at best, merely most days.
For Wayne Gretzky to earn a point in 51 consecutive NHL games, a mark not approached for decades. For Jerry Rice to catch at least one pass in 274 consecutive NFL games, nearly 20 games more than the closest challenger.
For Miami Hurricanes alums to score at least one NFL touchdown every week…for nearly nine years.
Chart 4: Consecutive Weeks With a Touchdown
Other alumni groups scored with similar regularity. In the 149 weeks comprising Miami’s streak, Tennessee alums scored a touchdown in 146 of them, Michigan alums in 140, USC alums in 135, Virginia alums in 133, and Purdue alums in 132.
But no alumni group remotely challenged Miami’s consecutive streak.
Tennessee’s longest NFL touchdown streak during this period was 52 weeks. It ended in Week 16 2005 as the Indianapolis Colts rested Peyton Manning ahead of the playoffs.
Michigan’s longest was 46 weeks. It ended Week 6 2006 when Tom Brady and his New England Patriots were on a bye week.
Purdue’s longest was 73. It ended the same day as Miami’s streak, in Week 11 2011. Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints were on a bye that week.
When the big fish sat, other alumni from those programs scored far less reliably.
Chart 5: Touchdowns by Alumni by Week
Miami didn’t have that problem. Because in the 2000s era NFL, Miami Hurricanes were everywhere.
Jeremy Shockey on a bye week? No worries, we’ve got plenty of tight ends: Bubba Franks, Kellen Winslow II, Greg Olsen, Jimmy Graham. (More on Tight End U in Chapter 4.)
Willis McGahee sitting out his rookie season with an injury? Don’t sweat. Clinton Portis and Edgerrin James were each top ten in rushing touchdowns that year.
Offensive players not feeling it this week? All good. About a third of the Hurricanes who scored touchdowns during The Streak were defenders. In fact, Ed Reed’s 107-yard interception return for a touchdown in Week 12 2008 kept The Streak alive; he was the only Hurricanes alum to score a touchdown in the NFL that week.
Collective consistency only works if there’s plenty of players contributing. And there were plenty of Miami Hurricanes scoring every week during The Streak.
An average of 3.62 Hurricanes scored every week, a full player more than Tennessee’s 2.37 players per week. Michigan averaged 2.26, USC 2.13, and Purdue 1.38.
It took a myriad of bad luck to end Miami’s 149-week streak. Injuries. Bye weeks. ‘Cane-on-’Cane offensive pass interference in the end zone. But more on that in Chapter 11.
Dispersion
If consistency is the very definition of a streak and volume often follows naturally, depth is what gives this particular streak its nuance. And Miami’s talent ran deep.
Chart 6: Top Scorers’ Share of Totals
Touchdowns by Miami alumni were fairly evenly dispersed compared to the touchdown dispersion among other alumni groups.
Miami’s max share was 10.93%. Max share simply means the percentage of the whole contributed by its largest part. In this case, Portis’s 73 touchdowns comprised 10.93% of Miami’s 668 total touchdowns.
Manning accounts for 49.28% of Tennessee alumni’s NFL touchdowns. Brady accounts for 47.41% of Michigan’s, Carson Palmer accounts for 33.68% of USC’s, and Brees accounts for 66.14% of Purdue’s.
Miami’s max share was not only lowest among the most prolific alumni groups. It was lowest among all alumni groups. Next is Ohio State (12.70%), Florida (14.85%), and Notre Dame (16.58%), whose alumni scored less than half of the touchdowns as Miami alumni.
The Greatest NFL Team of the 2000s
The prevailing thesis of the 149 Weeks series is that the University of Miami was the 2000s’ most consequential college football program. It states with a wink that the Hurricanes were the NFL’s best team of the era.
Maybe we don’t need the wink.
The Hurricanes were an institution in the NFL during the 2000s. Hurricanes alums called out “The U” in their primetime player introductions, and they’ve often spoken of their shared brotherhood.8
Miami didn’t produce the era’s best quarterback (Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Drew Brees), running back (LaDainian Tomlinson), wide receiver (Randy Moss, Terrell Owens, Larry Fitzgerald), or even tight end (Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates). You might argue it did produce the era’s best linebacker (Ray Lewis) and safety (Ed Reed), but it’s not about a single player.
It’s not about the consistency of consecutive weeks or the volume of touchdowns either. It’s not even about the margin by which Miami surpassed other alumni groups in touchdowns or any other metric, although those margins tell a helluva story.
The depth of the Hurricanes’ talent is why The Streak is the most impressive thing the University of Miami has ever done.
It wasn’t one or two Hurricanes scoring all those touchdowns. It was 35 of them, nearly half with double-digit touchdowns.
Here’s one more chart.
Chart 7: Coefficient of Variation
It shows the coefficient of variation (vertical axis) of touchdowns scored by each of the top ten touchdown-scoring alumni groups.
Coefficient of variation is a measure of dispersion. Like standard deviation, it measures how much your data points vary one to the next. But unlike standard deviation, which is an absolute measure of dispersion from the mean (i.e., in our case, average touchdowns per player), COV is a relative measure of dispersion, which lets us compare datasets with vastly different means, as is the case here.
A low coefficient of variation indicates less relative variability. In other words, the alumni’s touchdown totals are closer together.
Look at Miami. Its coefficient of variation was 115.33%. Now look at Tennessee, Michigan, USC, and Purdue. Coefficients of variation of 237.92%, 259.55%, 210.75%, and 269.69%, respectively. Each more than double that of Miami.
If you want a metric that says Miami was an unrivaled producer of NFL talent in the 2000s, that’s it.
Why? The peaks created by those prolific quarterbacks (Manning, Brady, Brees, Palmer, Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, you name ‘em) are massive, and that introduces tremendous variability in their alumni groups’ respective datasets. It also dulls the shine of those alumni groups’ overall total touchdowns.
Let’s say Vinny Testaverde threw all 668 of Miami’s touchdowns. We’d never claim Miami as an unrivaled producer of NFL talent or the most consequential program of the era based solely on a single contributor. He’d be a fluke. A fluke who’d be the game’s greatest passer, but a fluke nonetheless, not indicative of the Miami program’s importance.
The same goes for Tennessee, Michigan, USC, and Purdue. A single player contributed a large plurality, or in Purdue’s case a majority, of those alumni groups’ NFL touchdowns. They’re flukes relative to the rest of their schools’ alumni. We wouldn’t call Tennessee the most consequential program of the era because it produced Peyton Manning, would we?
Harken back to max share for a moment. Peyton Manning’s share of the Tennessee alumni group’s total was 49.28%. His 275 touchdowns dwarfed that of the second most prolific Volunteers alum during the span, Jamal Lewis with 49.
Hence, the Tennessee alumni group’s COV is more than double that of Miami, whose most prolific touchdown scorer produced just 10.93% of Miami’s total. Clinton Portis’ 73 touchdowns were only five more than the next highest Hurricanes alum, Reggie Wayne with 68.
Take Manning’s 275 touchdowns out of the picture and Tennessee’s COV drop precipitously. It’s 109.37%. But Tennessee’s left with just 283 touchdowns.
It’s the same story for the other most prolific alumni groups. Remove Tom Brady’s 247 touchdowns from Michigan’s total, and its COV drops to 130.00% but its touchdowns drop to 274.
Now do that with Miami. Remove Portis’ 73 touchdowns, and Miami’s COV actually rises to 115.81%. Its touchdowns remain high, 595, and still exceed the Tennessee alumni group at full power (558).
Again, not just victory, but margin of victory.
Do you want to know what’s even wilder?
You’ll get to the 19th most prolific alumni group (Oregon State with 250 touchdowns) before you find a COV lower than Miami’s 115.33%, and that alumni group had just 37% of the total touchdowns as Miami. Even when compared to alumni groups with more “normal” touchdown totals (not the aberration that Miami’s 668 represented), Miami’s touchdown dispersion was more balanced.
Volume. Consistency. Dispersion. Other alumni groups might’ve managed one or two of them, but never all three, and never at Miami’s scale.
It’s why The Streak happened. A ‘Canes thing if there ever was one.
There’s more to this story. Next up: Chapter 3: September 28, 2003
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Associated Press. “Woods Completes Record Run at Open.” ESPN.com, June 19, 2000. https://www.espn.com/golfonline/usopen_m00/s/2000/0618/591961.html.
Cabreera Chirinos, Christy. “Hurricanes Legend Ed Reed at UM Spring Practice: ‘This Brotherhood Is Something That Won’t Ever Go Away.” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, April 10, 2018. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2018/04/10/hurricanes-legend-ed-reed-at-um-spring-practice-this-brotherhood-is-something-that-wont-ever-go-away/.