Miami, FL

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

Published

2 years 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

Former Titans GM mock Miami right tackle to the Cleveland Browns at 6

Published

10 hours ago

April 18, 2026

Press Room

Former Titans GM mock Miami right tackle to the Cleveland Browns at 6

The Cleveland Browns traded for an extended right tackle, former Houston Texan Tytus Howard, at the start of free agency as they began their rebuild of the offensive line that was awful in 2025. But Howard has played every position on the offensive line except for center, so if it’s all about getting your best five on the field, which it should be, there’s a chance Howard doesn’t play at right tackle in 2026.

While doing a mock draft on Peter Schrager’s podcast, former Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon had the Browns drafting Miami (FL) right tackle sixth overall. He talked about the issue with Howard, but said Mauigoa could either take over the tackle spot or be a really good guard.

Carthon said he knows that Mauigoa would be one of their best five, whether it is at guard or tackle. Some will say that a guy who may be best at guard isn’t worth the sixth overall pick, and I have to disagree. You should draft the best football players, and Francis Mauigoa is my highest-rated offensive lineman and seventh overall. It might be at guard, but I have a good feeling that Mauigoa will find a home in the NFL as a high-quality offensive lineman.

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Miami, FL

Inventory drops for first time since 2023 as sales rebound across coastal Miami, beaches

Published

1 day ago

April 17, 2026

Press Room

Inventory drops for first time since 2023 as sales rebound across coastal Miami, beaches

Inventory of homes and condos across the coastal Miami mainland and Miami Beach and the barrier island markets fell in the first quarter, marking the first big inventory drops since 2023.

The Corcoran Group’s first quarter reports don’t cover all of Miami-Dade County, but they offer insight into how the coastal markets, which have a higher share of luxury properties, are performing.

In Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Surfside, Miami Beach, Fisher Island and Key Biscayne, single-family home inventory dropped 15 percent annually to 398 listings, and condo inventory was down 13 percent to 3,919 listings.

On Miami’s coastal mainland markets, which include Aventura, Miami Shores, Upper East Side, Edgewater, downtown Miami, Brickell, Coral Gables and Coconut Grove, inventory slipped 4 percent to 4,584 condo listings and 555 single-family listings, down 6 percent year-over-year.

Here’s a closer look at the market:

Miami Beach and the barrier islands

Single-family sales rose 13 percent year-over-year to 85 closings, the first time they have increased since the second quarter of 2024. Condo closings rose 15 percent to 693 closings, the first increase since the last quarter of 2024.

Pricing dropped, with the median price of single-family homes down 4 percent to $3.5 million and the median condo price down 9 percent to $640,000. The average price per square foot was nearly flat at $1,119.

Still, buyers set records with their purchases. Billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg paid $170 million for the waterfront mansion at 7 Indian Creek Island Road, and Starbucks billionaire Howard Schultz paid $44 million, or $7,949 per square foot, for a penthouse at the Four Seasons Residences at The Surf Club.

Coastal mainland

Sales of single-family homes on the coastal mainland rose 16 percent to 220 closings. While markets like Coral Gables experienced declines in condo and single-family home sales, Coconut Grove home sales surged — up over 100 percent for single-family homes to 47 closings and up 55 percent to 87 condo closings. Condo sales rose 13 percent to 759 closings.

The median price of single-family homes across the coastal mainland rose 11 percent to just over $2 million. The median price of condos increased slightly, up 1 percent, to $602,000.

The priciest deals in the first quarter were the $32 million trade of 12 Tahiti Beach Island Road in Coral Gables, and the $19.8 million sale of a penthouse at Vita at Grove Isle.

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