Florida/Miami is always a fun, hard-hitting contest and starting the 2019 college football season with it on Week Zero is a glorious beginning to what should be another season of absolute chaos. There are a lot of questions for both teams, some of which were answered on Saturday night, but the biggest news that came out of the ACC clash is that the Miami Hurricanes have a new turnover chain.
The turnover chain isn’t anything new: two season ago, Miami introduced a very large gold chain that coaches gave to defenders who forced turnovers. It was immediately a huge hit, both among fans and the team itself. Miami sold replica turnover chains, and the team actually forced a ton of turnovers and got to award it often: 50 takeaways through two seasons, which is the most a Power Five school mustered on defense.
It’s why the chain was the topic of some speculation before Saturday night’s kickoff game: would Miami have a new chain? And indeed, when a botched handoff went down for Miami’s first forced turnover of the season, Miami coaches busted out a gigantic gold chain and the Hurricanes bench got to celebrating.
Nothing more Miami than this. 😏 pic.twitter.com/ZUghLWurNk
— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) August 24, 2019
turnover chain v3.0 pic.twitter.com/lTv9StlHWU
— nick (@nick_pants) August 24, 2019
This year’s turnover chain is a bit different, with the 305 prominently displayed overlaying a much smaller (by comparison, at least) U logo. The 305, of course, is Miami’s area code. And, of course, there was a lot of work that went into Turnover Chain 3.0.
About the new #Miami Turnover Chain: It weighs 500 grams (half a kilogram), while the chain itself weighs two kilograms. The charm is 10 inches wide. There are more than 2,000 white sapphire stones in the ‘305’ charm. It took three months to complete.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) August 25, 2019
And much to the enjoyment of everyone who isn’t explicitly rooting for the Gators, it wasn’t the last we saw of the chain on Saturday night. Early in the second quarter, the chain was busted out again when a pass in the backfield was bobbled and went Miami’s way.
ANOTHER ONE pic.twitter.com/5rFj2NVjZI
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) August 25, 2019
Later, when Miami scored before the half, they debuted another great marketing opportunity: touchdown rings.
The U does everything to excess pic.twitter.com/6pAKk14eBc
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) August 25, 2019
Look at these friggin rings, you guys.
💍 WE GOT SOME REALLY BIG RINGS 💍
Introducing: Touchdown Rings pic.twitter.com/vRy0YwgRK9
— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) August 25, 2019
The chain (and rings) was the talk of college football Twitter, as it should be. And speaking of Extremely Miami Hurricanes sh*t, check out this fella on the UM sideline.
https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/1165414698998779905
Thank goodness college football is back. We’ve missed you.
