Updated September 4, 2026.
Miami claims five national championships, all AP poll titles, won in a 19 year window from 1983 to 2001 under four different head coaches. No program has won more titles in a shorter span. Four came at the Orange Bowl or Sugar Bowl, the fifth in the Rose Bowl BCS title game, and each of the four coaches who won one (Schnellenberger, Johnson, Erickson and Coker) left or was fired within four years of doing so.
The Five Championships
| Year | Coach | Record | Bowl | QB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Howard Schnellenberger | 11-1 | Orange, W 31-30 vs. Nebraska | Bernie Kosar |
| 1987 | Jimmy Johnson | 12-0 | Orange, W 20-14 vs. Oklahoma | Steve Walsh |
| 1989 | Dennis Erickson | 11-1 | Sugar, W 33-25 vs. Alabama | Craig Erickson |
| 1991 | Dennis Erickson | 12-0 | Orange, W 22-0 vs. Nebraska | Gino Torretta |
| 2001 | Larry Coker | 12-0 | Rose (BCS), W 37-14 vs. Nebraska | Ken Dorsey |
1983: The Five Year Plan
Schnellenberger told his staff in 1979 that Miami would win a national title within five years, at a school whose trustees had just debated dropping football. The 1983 team started unranked, lost 28-3 at Florida in the opener, then won ten straight behind redshirt freshman Bernie Kosar, who beat out Vinny Testaverde for the job. Ranked fifth entering the Orange Bowl against unbeaten No. 1 Nebraska, Miami got help when No. 2 Texas and No. 4 Illinois both lost earlier on New Year’s Day, built a 17-0 lead, and held on when Kenny Calhoun tipped away Turner Gill’s two point conversion pass with 48 seconds left for a 31-30 win. Schnellenberger left for the USFL weeks later.
1987: Twelve and Oh
Jimmy Johnson’s third team, with Steve Walsh at quarterback and Michael Irvin and Bennie Blades leading a roster that sent 12 players to the next draft, completed the first undefeated varsity season in school history. The defining win was at No. 4 Florida State, where Miami trailed 19-3 in the third quarter, took a 26-19 lead on a 73 yard Walsh to Irvin touchdown, and stopped Bobby Bowden’s two point try for the win in the final minute, 26-25. The Orange Bowl was a 20-14 win over No. 1 Oklahoma, Miami’s third straight over the Sooners.
1989: Erickson Wins in Year One
Dennis Erickson became only the second Division I coach to win a national title in his first year at a school. Craig Erickson quarterbacked a team that lost 24-10 at Florida State in October, beat No. 1 Notre Dame 27-10 in the regular season finale, and took the Sugar Bowl 33-25 over No. 7 Alabama while No. 1 Colorado lost to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl.
1991: Wide Right
Gino Torretta and a linebacker corps of Jessie Armstead and Micheal Barrow went 12-0 in Miami’s first Big East season. The title turned on the original Wide Right game in Tallahassee: No. 2 Miami led No. 1 Florida State 17-16 in the final minute and Gerry Thomas’s field goal sailed wide. A 22-0 shutout of Nebraska in the Orange Bowl secured the AP title; the Coaches poll went to Washington, the last split title before the Bowl Coalition.
2001: The Best Roster Ever Assembled
Passed over for the 2000 title game despite beating Florida State head to head, Larry Coker’s first team answered with a 12-0 season that included a 49-27 win at Florida State to end the Seminoles’ 54 game home unbeaten streak, back to back wins over ranked Syracuse and Washington by a combined 124-7, Ed Reed’s strip and 80 yard return to save the Boston College game, and a 37-14 Rose Bowl rout of Nebraska in which Miami led 34-0 at halftime. The roster had Dorsey, Reed, Andre Johnson, Bryant McKinnie, Clinton Portis, Jeremy Shockey, Jonathan Vilma, Sean Taylor, Vince Wilfork, Kellen Winslow II, Willis McGahee and Frank Gore, and produced 19 first round picks over the next four drafts.
Unclaimed Titles
Selectors recognized by the NCAA have named Miami champion in four other seasons the school does not claim: 1986 (11-1, lost the Fiesta Bowl to Penn State), 1988 (11-1, lost only to Notre Dame), 1990 (10-2, beat Texas 46-3 in the Cotton Bowl) and 2000 (11-1, beat Florida in the Sugar Bowl after the BCS snub).
Near Misses
| 1986 | No. 1 all season with Heisman winner Testaverde, lost the Fiesta Bowl 14-10 to Penn State on seven turnovers |
| 1988 | Lost 31-30 at Notre Dame in Catholics vs. Convicts on a failed two point conversion; the Irish won the title |
| 1992 | No. 1 and 11-0 with Torretta’s Heisman, lost the Sugar Bowl 34-13 to Alabama |
| 1994 | Led Nebraska 17-9 entering the fourth quarter of the Orange Bowl, lost 24-17 |
| 2000 | Beat Florida State, ranked above them in both polls, left out of the BCS title game by the computers |
| 2002 | 34 straight wins, lost the Fiesta Bowl 31-24 in double overtime after a late pass interference flag on fourth down |
| 2025 | Won three playoff games as the No. 10 seed, lost the championship game 27-21 to Indiana |
Related Reading
Miami football history, bowl history, Heisman winners. The other side of four of these games: Nebraska national championships. Full list at national champions by year.