Miami, FL

Williams: Who to blame for Cincinnati-Miami Victory Bell college football series ending

Published

1 year ago

July 29, 2024

Williams: Who to blame for Cincinnati-Miami Victory Bell college football series ending

Ask columnist Jason Williams anything − sports or non-sports – and he’ll pick some of your questions and respond on Cincinnati.com. Email: jwilliams@enquirer.com

Subject: Another college football rivalry is lost

Message: It’s sad to see the Miami-UC football series is coming to an end. Long-time fans of both schools still cherish the regional rivalry, despite the game losing its luster over the past 20 years. How do you feel about the series being cancelled?

Reply: Yep, it’s sad but certainly not surprising. And reaction to the news that the fourth-longest-running rivalry in big-time college football is ending in 2026 shows not many UC or Miami fans care.

For those who do care, no need to cast blame on either UC or Miami. We’ve learned to accept regional rivalries aren’t important to the college football oligarchs beyond a handful of games. Realignment – and the haves-vs.-have-nots schism that’s come with it – has killed games like this.

Regional, non-conference rivalries are especially on the endangered species list. Moreover, the cancellation of the UC-Miami series will end the longest-running rivalry between schools from power and so-called Group of Five conferences. The Utah-Utah State rivalry, which started in 1892, came to an end in 2015 – five seasons after Utah joined a power conference.

So you knew this was coming after UC moved to the Big 12 last season. The conference has moved to nine league games, reducing the number of non-conference games to three from four. For its part, Miami needs a massive paycheck to help the athletic department budget when it goes on the road to play a power conference team. That wasn’t happening with the UC series.

Face it, if the UC-Miami rivalry hadn’t become so one-sided, the reaction to cancelling the series might have been different. But UC had won 16 consecutive games vs. Miami before the RedHawks defeated the Bearcats in overtime at Nippert Stadium last season.

The rivalry really hasn’t been fun since the 1990s and early 2000s. When I was a student at UC from 1993-1997, UC went 3-1-1 against Miami. Besides the 1994 tie, every game was decided by one score. The Miami games were among the few that filled up the Nippert Stadium student section back then. In those days, UC needed Miami. Now every game fills up Nippert.

We’ll have plenty of time to reminisce about this historic rivalry, which began with a riveting 0-0 tie in 1888. But I couldn’t help but think of two men who were on opposite sides of the Victory Bell rivalry when it was The Game for both schools – late legends Jim Kelly Sr. of UC and Wayne Gibson of Miami.

They both played in the 1940s before going on to work for their schools’ athletic departments and being named to their universities’ halls of fame. Kelly and “Gibby,” who was a close friend of my late grandfather, respected the rivalry and lived for keeping the Victory Bell in their athletic departments.

Those days are long gone. It’s long been just another game to the UC and Miami players and most of their fans.

But hopefully, the 60-60-7 series record can help today’s players and younger fans have some appreciation for this rivalry. RIP, Victory Bell.

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Miami, FL

Ole Miss S Nick Cull’s targeting call reversed vs Miami in Peach Bowl

Published

1 hour ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Ole Miss S Nick Cull’s targeting call reversed vs Miami in Peach Bowl

Mississippi football’s Nick Cull avoided an ejection during the College Football Playoff Fiesta Bowl semifinal on Thursday, Jan. 8.

As Malachi Toney reeled in a catch from Carson Beck at the Miami 49 in the first quarter, he was hit by Cull in a helmet-to-helmet collision. Right away, the officials flagged Cull for targeting, with both Toney and Cull staying down on the field with an injury.

After officials reviewed the play, the call on the field was overturned, as the officials determined that Cull did not launch and the collision seemed to be incidental. Replay assistant Matt Austin concurred with the call on the field.

The play had a major impact on the game as well. If the call had been upheld, Miami would have had the ball at the Ole Miss 34-yard line with a chance to expand its 3-0 lead. However, a few plays later, the Hurricanes were forced to punt from the 49-yard line.

On the first play of the second quarter, Ole Miss running back Kewan Lacey scored on a 73-yard run to give the Rebels a 7-3 lead.

Because he was not called for targeting, Cull was not ejected from the game, which means Ole Miss will have him for the remainder of the game, if he can clear the concussion protocol. He was in the tent following the play.

Cull has 15 total tackles and three pass deflections this season for the Rebels.

Meanwhile, Toney went to the medical tent briefly for the Hurricanes, but returned to the game.

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Miami, FL

Crash involving unmarked Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office vehicle impacts morning commute

Published

14 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Crash involving unmarked Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office vehicle impacts morning commute

Updated on: January 8, 2026 / 7:30 AM EST
/ CBS Miami

A crash involving an unmarked Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office vehicle was reported in Northwest Miami-Dade on Thursday morning, and the morning commute was impacted as a result.

Few details have been released, but the crash was reported in the area of Northwest 79th street and Interstate 95.

Video from the scene showed that the vehicles had heavy damage.

The sheriff’s office said the crash also involved a civilian vehicle, and no injuries were reported.

No other information was released.

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Miami, FL

Miami Heat-Minnesota Timberwolves Final Injury Update: Anthony Edwards’ status divulged

Published

2 days ago

January 6, 2026

Press Room

Miami Heat-Minnesota Timberwolves Final Injury Update: Anthony Edwards’ status divulged

The Minnesota Timberwolves announced that guard Anthony Edwards is now available to play in Tuesday night’s game against the Miami Heat after originally being listed as questionable with right foot injury maintenance.

Here’s the rest of the injury report and game preview:

INJURY REPORT

HEAT

Tyler Herro: Available – Toe

Jaime Jaquez Jr.: Out – Ankle

Nikola Jovic: Available – Groin

Terry Rozier: Out – Not with team

TIMBERWOLVES

Anthony Edwards: Available – Foot

Terrence Shannon Jr.: Out – Foot

Joan Beringer: Out – G League

Game date, time and location: Tuesday, Jan. 6, 8:00 p.m. EST, Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

TV: TV: Peacock,

Radio: 104.3 FM (Miami/Ft. Lauderdale), ESPN 106.3 FM, (West Palm Beach), FOX Sports Radio 105.9 FM (Ft. Myers/Naples), 1450 AM (Suart), 97.7 FM (Florida Keys), WAQI 710 AM (Spanish-language broadcast, South Florida) 100.3 FM (Minnesota)

VITALS: The Miami Heat (20-16) and Minnesota Timberwolves (23-13) meet for the second and final regular season matchup after just facing off three days ago with Minnesota recording a, 125-115, win in Miami on January 3. The teams split the series, 1-1, last season with each squad winning on the road. The Heat are 36-35 all-time versus Minnesota during the regular season,
including 19-16 in home games and 17-19 in road games.

PROJECTED STARTERS

HEAT

G Davion Mitchell

G Tyler Herro

C Bam Adebayo

F Norman Powell

F Andrew Wiggins

TIMBERWOLVES

G Donte DiVincenzo

G Anthony Edwards

C Rudy Gobert

F Jaden McDaniels

F Julius Randle

Spread: Heat +5.5 (-112), Timberwolves -5.5 (-108)

Moneyline: Heat +166, Timberwolves -198

Total points scored: 239.5 (over -106, under -114)

QUOTABLE

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra on the forced turnovers: “That is and has to be our identity. We have to play with a recklessness and activity level that exceeds our opponent, and thats not to put down our talent level or anything like that, it’s more about we look different when we’re flying around and making plays and making it tough for the opponent.”