The Miami Hurricanes qualified for the College Football Playoff for the first time in school history in 2025. The Playoff berth marked the first time since the 2003 season that the Canes were in the mix for a national title.
That year, Miami played Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. The game was a de facto national championship, as the Canes entered ranked No. 1 and Ohio State No. 2. Both teams were unbeaten.
The Buckeyes won 31-24, but the game was overshadowed by controversy. In double overtime, Miami was flagged for a questionable pass interference call on an Ohio State 4th-down pass attempt, helping set up OSU's game-tying touchdown.
Let’s take a look back at the call that helped Miami miss out on the 2003 national championship.
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Ohio State vs. Miami 2003 controversy
The 2003 Fiesta Bowl was a game to remember. Ohio State led 14-7 at halftime and extended its lead to 10 points midway through the third quarter with a 44-yard field goal from Mike Nugent. The Canes tied the game with a last-second 40-yard field goal at the end of regulation, forcing overtime.
Miami got the ball first in overtime and scored a touchdown to take the lead.
On Ohio State's ensuing possession, the Buckeyes faced a 4th-and-3 from Miami's six-yard line. OSU's Craig Krenzel threw to Chris Gamble, who was covered by Glenn Sharpe. Gamble defended the pass, and it fell incomplete. Although official Terry Porter initially signaled an incomplete pass, he then threw a flag for pass interference. The flag came so late that Miami players and coaches began rushing the field in celebration.
The call gave OSU the ball at the one-yard line, setting up an easy touchdown to force a second overtime. In double overtime, Miami failed to respond to Ohio State's touchdown on its first possession, giving the Buckeyes the victory.
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Did Glenn Sharpe commit pass interference?
The answer to that question depends on who you ask, as OSU fans will certainly say "yes," whereas Miami fans will scream "no" from the rooftops until the end of time.
When you watch the replay of the call, it looks as if Sharpe is playing tight defense on Gamble throughout his route. He grabs Gamble's jersey for a split second as Gamble turns around.
Sharpe, long before the ball arrived, clearly turns to make a play on it—which supports the argument that it was not pass interference. Sharpe is not holding or impeding Gamble from making the catch, nor is he hooking him.
The ball -- a wobbler thrown by Krenzel -- hits Gamble in the hands. Sharpe's hand comes up to make a play after the ball is juggled.
Via ESPN's Mark Schlabach on the call, from a 2020 ESPN piece:
In a moment like that, on fourth down in overtime with a national championship on the line, I think an official should swallow his whistle. Both Gamble and Sharpe had a right to the ball, and I don't think Sharpe's contact was enough to alter the play.
As Miami defensive backs coach Mark Stoops (now Kentucky's head coach) said after the game, "There's not another official in the history of the game that would make that call."
Schlabach added that it might be the worst calls of all time due to the monumental stakes of the game.
On the ABC broadcast, you can hear Keith Jackson exclaim "bad call" three times. Jackson also suggests there could have been defensive holding.
Another big issue with the call is the fact that the official, Terry Porter, threw the flag quite late. It was so late that Miami players and coaches began celebrating long before it hit the turf.
"There is slow: the imperceptible yellowing of the Mona Lisa," Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly wrote of the penalty. There is slower: the inches-per-year movement of the great glaciers. And then there is football game official Terry Porter... Porter took four seconds to call pass interference on the play that decided the national championship. Four seconds! That's a setting on a microwave: Muffin, Pop-Tart, Terry Porter Deciding National Championship."
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Who is Terry Porter?
Terry Porter is a longtime official, based out of Oklahoma. He has been an official for 58 years, and was a Big 12 official for decades. He has also officiated basketball and baseball games, in addition to Big 12 title games, DII national title games and several college football bowl games.
In Aug. 2025, Porter was inducted into the Oklahoma Officials Association Hall of Fame.
“If you make a call and it’s right, the call goes away," Porter said of his career via the Stillwater News Press. If you make a call and the call is wrong, it never goes away. Ever. So just take your time and try to get it right. That’s what we all want to do. When you walk out at night, out of the place – football, basketball, I don’t care – you just want to have gotten it right.”
He has not officiated a national title game since the 2003 Miami-OSU clash.
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