After 30 years, Miami upset still fresh in FAMU's mind

Howard Schnellenberger couldn't remember too much of the details. After all, it was exactly 30 years to the day, as he was trying to recall how his Miami Hurricanes were shocked by FAMU.

"We knew we were playing a great football team that had more talent than we did," Schnellenberger's voice boomed over the phone. "We just wanted to kick the field goal and get the tie."

But instead, Dan Miller's 20-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left, securing a 16-13 victory for FAMU in its first meeting with the Hurricanes. Lost in all of the hoopla and history written on that day at Doak Campbell Stadium was the biggest moment in the career of FAMU defensive tackle Algie Hendrieth.

Thirty years later, Hendrieth is probably better remembered locally as a football coach at Rickards and Lincoln high schools.

But it was his one big play in that game so long ago that made sure that the Rattlers would have earned no worse than a tie against a Miami team that was ranked 10th in the nation at the time.

On third-and-goal from FAMU's 3-yard line, Hendrieth swatted away quarterback Mike Rodrique's pass, forcing the failed field-goal attempt. It was the second straight bat-away for the Rattlers, who on the first play of the series had stopped Hurricane running back Lorenzo Roan for no gain.

"When the ball snapped, I saw this big man set up to pass," Hendrieth said, smiling broadly. "We jammed up together, then I leaped up in the air and I saw the quarterback looking over my shoulder.
"I leaped as high as I could leap, stretched a little further and was able to tip it. I was just ecstatic. I looked back and they had a receiver wide open."

Hendrieth tried to make such a play all game. He wanted vindication after being ignored by Miami when he came out of Miami Jackson High School believing he was good enough to play for the Hurricanes. More than half of the FAMU team at the time felt the same way, but there they were playing as Rattlers against the team they wanted to play for.

The frustration built up, Hendrieth said, as he wasn't having much luck with his assignment to stop Miami running back Chris Hobbs, who played at Godby High with FAMU quarterback Sammy Knight.

They'd played together on a state championship team before going separate ways. Hendrieth tried hard to get a little payback for Knight.

"I'd get close to (Hobbs) and somebody else would tackle him or he'd get away," Hendrieth said. "My tackling wasn't up that day and my pass rush wasn't up that day. I was very frustrated because I wasn't making as many plays as I wanted to make so I was very excited when I knocked that pass down."

Hendrieth was part of a defensive unit that depended on brute force as much as it had talent and technique. The swagger the players had came naturally, especially with the players from Miami and Jacksonville. That's how Bobby Lang, FAMU's defensive line coach at the time, saw it.

"A lot of the guys believed that we could beat Miami because of who we were as individuals," Hendrieth said. "We had as much talent, just as much speed as Miami had. The only difference was Miami was a little bit bigger and stronger than we were."

But the Rattlers fought the Hurricanes all day.

"They kept the team in the ball game the total period," said Lang, who is more famous for being FAMU's former track coach. "Those kids played well, they played their assignments well and they knew what they were doing. They felt a sense of wanting to win and they went out and won."

It was a painful win, though. The Rattlers came away with so many injuries that their season that started with so much hope (they were 5-0 after beating Miami), went south. FAMU would finish the season with a 7-5 record, following its 12-1 season the previous year when it won the first NCAA Division I-AA championship.

Expectations were that the Rattlers would do just as well, especially after beating the Hurricanes. But the injuries lingered.

"They cut and chopped us so much because of our speed," Hendrieth said. "It was hard to walk after that game and for the rest of the season I had plaguing injuries from shin splints. That's how badly they chopped our legs from under us."

But even as the season turned out, FAMU head coach Rudy Hubbard felt his team had proven its case as a national power in its two previous seasons. Beating Miami was the further proof.

"It was just a great opportunity for us to prove to the world," said Hubbard, now head coach at Rickards High School. "Our motto was we can play anybody and expect to win."

FAMU held the Hurricanes to a 13-13 tie most of the second half. The Rattlers took the lead on a 34-yard field goal by Vince Coleman with 3:49 left in the game. Then, after Miller's missed field goal, FAMU ran out the last 49 seconds.

Hendrieth's place in history was secured, although to this day he remains modest about what he'd accomplished.

"I was pleased with myself because I was able to contribute to my team to stop their drive and we were able to win," he said. "I never looked at it the way everybody looked at it. I was just a player and I was able to contribute something good. I was very satisfied with the victory.

"Those guys believed and they were serious about this thing. I could have felt that."