Loudest and largest: Crowd helped unbeaten WVU defeat Miami in 1993

The Nov. 1993 football game between West Virginia University and the University of Miami was played on Mountaineer Field. Courtesy photo
SHEPHERDSTOWN — The hype jumped off the media pages the week before the WVU vs. Miami football game in Nov. 1993.
Unbeaten with its 9-0 record, the versatile Mountaineers were in lively Morgantown to play the always proud and always talkative Hurricanes, once-beaten and ranked fourth in the country.
Cold and clear was the weather forecast. Finding a ticket was about as easy as finding a 14-point buck on the opening day of hunting season.
Mountaineer Field was busting at the seams when 70,222 vocal screamers found their way into their pews. It would be the largest home crowd in WVU history.
Few people ever sat down, so dramatic and tense was the game once it began following the National Anthem from the colorful marching band.
The University of Miami found itself on its collective heels after it suffered interceptions and a lost fumble in the first half.
Mike Collins and Wes Richardson grabbed Hurricane turnovers but there was little or no offense from quarterback Jake Kelchner and friends.
Only Tony Mazzone’s 22-yard field goal ever moved the scoreboard numbers as the fervently-backed Mountaineers led 3-0 at the catch-your-breath halftime break.
But then Miami went 80 yards to finally score some points with its first possession of the second half as both teams jazzed up their offenses.
Miami’s 7-3 lead was gone when the adrenaline-fired Mountaineers went 66 yards mostly along the ground to get a 10-7 lead that lasted through the third quarter.
As the fourth quarter inched along, Miami had people in the jammed stands clamoring for some stops when it completed an 80-yard drive with the points that gave it a 14-10 lead.
Darkness had not only overcome Morgantown, but it threatened to shroud the stadium in its chilled and tightening grip.
But the Mountaineers were not finished by any means.
Another in its meaningful series of kickoff and punt returns helped WVU gain field position.
And with 6:08 remaining, Robert Walker used the quality blocking of his left side to get loose from the Hurricane 19 and break free into the end zone, bringing the Mountaineers a heartwarming 17-14 lead.
West Virginia’s defense with starters Steve Perkins, Scott Gaskins, Barry Hawkins, Darrick Wiley, Tim Brown, Wes Richardson, Matt Taffoni, Aaron Beasley, Tommy Orr, David Mayfield and Mike Collins stopped Miami. Again.
Young people in the walls-busting crowd began to move into the aisles leading to the field. Celebrators didn’t need any liquid boost to begin dancing and hugging anybody in sight as the scoreboard clock wound down to all zeros and the Hurricanes with no timeouts left.
In the aftermath of WVU’s continued unbeaten season, the field was awash with people carrying the remnants of both goal posts as they retreated to the post-game parties all over Sunnyside.
The Mountaineers completed an unbeaten season the next week at Boston College.
It had been a cold, cold day for the banter-loving Hurricanes. It had been a record-crowd for WVU . . . and a red-letter day to remember in the over 100 years of Mountaineer football.