Instead, the memory of a bench-clearing brawl that resulted in 12 ejections will linger. When the game ended, scattered boos emanated from the sebout crowd of 52,391.

University of Miami President Edward T. Foote II, Athletic Director Paul Dee and Coach Dennis Erickson repeated, "It takes two to tango" as if it were a mantra.

Erickson accepted responsibility with more grace than his superiors. "The buck stops with me," he says. "I have to get it straightened out so that it doesn't happen again." Dee suggested the Hurricanes had been "baited." He had a point. The same writers who detail Miami's inexperience don't hesitate to connect the current players to past problems.

"Those guys who played in the ('87) Fiesta Bowl are going to be collecting retirement here pretty soon," Erickson says. "That's got to die."

The Hurricanes came to Colorado only to read words and cartoons about their villainous past. The players largely responsible for Miami's thug image played out their eligibility in 1990. But news must travel slowly in the Rockies.

"There was an atmosphere of hate and dislike from the time we got there Thursday," Erickson says. "Why, I don't know. We haven't played them. We haven't been there in 15 years."

Miami had to read it in Syracuse last November, although the '92 team never did anything more than self-aggrandize. And that was Syracuse, not a major metropolitan city such as Denver.

Erickson says teams feel as if they have to prove the Hurricanes don't intimidate them That's where trouble starts. The players exchanged pregame shoves near the Miami sideline. Others saw Miami players and managers make gestures toward the crowd that ranged from being cocky to being vulgar. Then came the brawl.

Miami quarterback Frank Costa directed a textbook two-minute drill to a touchdown that put the Hurricanes ahead 21-6 with 20 seconds remaining in the half. Scott Barnwell lucked the ball out of the end zone. At the Miami 35, Colorado freshman linebacker Allen Wilbon blocked Miami freshman linebacker Antonio Coley to the ground. They continued after the whistle.

Teammates saw them, benches emptied and for the next five minutes, players took more cheap shots than a week's worth of "Hard Copy."

Fistfights broke out all over the field. Miami players shoved their coaches aside to swing at opponents. Three Colorado player pinned Miami defensive end Kevin Patrick the end zone. Tight end Garrett Ford ripped Patrick's face mask askew. Reserve guard Gerald Ancar threw a punch into Patrick's groin.

Buddy Ward, referee of the Big East Conference crew, says the officials quickly became overwhelmed. The melee reduced them to taking numbers of players who committed flagrant fouls.

The officials ejected seven Miami players, including two starters, and five Buffaloes, among them starting wide receiver Michael Westbrook and starting cornerback Dennis Collier.

"As I was trying to break up one thing, some dude knocked me to the ground," Collier says. "My first instinct was to fight. I regret that incident now."

Or, as Colorado linebacker Ronnie Woolfork put it, "The brawl had no effect on the game.... Tempers flared. It was extremely hard-fought."

Perhaps Athletic Director Bill Marolt can learn something from his student-athletes. Marolt became so incensed at the officiating that he ran onto the field in the second quarter.

"The officials made so many bad calls they created (the fight)," Marolt says." This was an embarrassment. It's an embarrassment to college football. It was an embarrassment to the integrity of the game."

Marolt meant the officiating, not himself, although you couldn't tell it by us.

To the credit of both teams, nothing approximating a fight occurred in the second half. Colorado's stirring comeback turned the afternoon into a football game.