A wild Miami victory was followed by more celebration as the team returned home

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — They celebrated on the field. They celebrated in the locker room. And when Miami's overnight charter flight landed Sunday after the Hurricanes' biggest comeback win in a quarter century, another unplanned celebration awaited.

Fire trucks greeted the plane by shooting jets of water over the plane as it taxied to the gate.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw it,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “That was crazy.”

A little crazy on Sunday morning made sense because everything was pretty crazy on Saturday evening in California too.

The Hurricanes trailed by 25 points late in the third quarter and were down 20 points with 11 minutes left and somehow beat Cal 39-38 – the biggest comeback win in FBS play this season and Miami's biggest since a 28-point comeback against Boston College in 1999. Miami quarterback Cam Ward boosted his Heisman Trophy campaign by hitting 437 in the final yards passing and scoring three touchdowns in 10:28, including the game-winning throw to Elijah Arroyo with 26 seconds left.

“I didn’t play my best ball,” Ward said. “Nobody played their best ball. We just can’t keep putting ourselves in situations like this.”

For Miami it was two games in a row where everything came to a head. The Hurricanes erased a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter defeated Virginia Tech on September 27th – I survived a Hail Mary touchdown fell over in the last game – and then came back from 25 a week later. The Hokies felt the replay review of the final play was botched, and Cal certainly believed Miami's Wesley Bissainthe was guilty of targeting Golden Bears quarterback Fernando Mendoza in the final minutes Saturday. Had this play gone Cal's way, Miami would have needed an even bigger miracle.

“This team has so much confidence,” Cristobal said. “Insane resilience. We're down 35-10 and no one blinks. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Miami (6-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) moved up two spots to No. 6 in the AP Top 25 on Sunday. It is only the third time since 2005 that the Hurricanes have achieved such a high ranking; The team was ranked No. 3 in two polls in November 2005 and remained at No. 2 for two weeks in November 2017.

Miami has this week off before traveling to Louisville on October 19th.

“That was special,” receiver Laufen said to start the final possession. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

The plane that brought the Hurricanes home was fairly dark for most of the five-hour journey; Almost everyone was asleep or at least trying to sleep. One of the few lights on the plane came from Cristobal's laptop because he had watched the game a few times on the way home.

Running back Mark Fletcher, who ran for 81 yards and a score, had no problem getting a few hours of sleep.

“I slept well,” Fletcher said. “We just never gave up. We had so much balance. There was no panic, no panic from the players, no panic from the coaches. We just played. It's conference play now and conference games are like playoff games. Just prepare every week like it’s the national championship and see what happens.”

After his return on Sunday, sleep was apparently not on Cristobal's to-do list. He walked to his car, still in his suit, with a fresh cup of Cuban coffee in his hand. For those who don't know, this is very current stuff and not recommended for anyone planning on taking a nap anytime soon.

“Sleep? Maybe later,” Cristobal said. “Maybe. There is a lot to do. We've just come a long way. We still have miles to go.”

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