Long before that guy who used to coach in Gainesville moved up north, and not too long before a flag in the corner of the endzone snatchd a sixth national championship from the University of Miami’s fingers, the animosity between Ohio State and Miami was non-existent.
The programs had only met once before in 1977, twenty-two years before the rematch was set to kick off the 1999 college football season. In that initial meeting, it was Woody Hayes who led OSU to beat Lou Saban’s Miami squad 10–0. The backdrop for the ‘99 game was East Rutherford, New Jersey, at old Giants Stadium—a neutral venue that at the time was one of the more encapsulating platforms to host a football game, with the New York skyline serving as an urban oasis in the near background.