Just Call ‘Em Citizen ‘Canes : College football: Humble Miami players almost too good to be true after a 23-12 victory over Ohio State in Kickoff Classic.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Miami is back, but don’t spread the word.

“We’re back?” tailback James Jackson said. “I don’t know who started that. I didn’t start it.”

He’s right in this sense: No one really wants that Miami back: the bandannas, the attitude, the NCAA inquiries, Jimmy Johnson’s hair.

No, what returned to the national college football scene Sunday was a repentant program that has humbly paid its dues and is now looking to make someone else pay.

Eight years after its last national title and four years removed from NCAA sanctions that reduced it into a Big East Conference bottom feeder, Miami announced its renewal with a 23-12 win over Ohio State in the Kickoff Classic before a crowd of 73,037 at Giants Stadium.

A kinder, gentler Miami?

The old Miami might have commanded the postgame microphone and chided all those who ever doubted the Hurricanes would return as a national force.

The new Miami team almost wanted to distance itself from its renegade past.

“It’s early,” Jackson said of the proclamations. “I hope the guys don’t get a big head now that we’re in the top 10 or whatever.”

Miami, No. 12 in the preseason rankings, moved up to No. 8 in Sunday’s Associated Press poll, but the Hurricanes don’t want to get swept away with fame this time.

Sunday’s victory was nice, but not conclusive.

Miami quarterback Kenny Kelly, starting his first collegiate game, fumbled twice and threw two interceptions, but did enough to serve warning. He completed 17 of 25 passes for 245 yards, throwing a touchdown and rushing for another.

Both his touchdowns were seat-of-your-pants dramatic. With Miami trailing, 9-7, in the second quarter, Kelly fooled everyone--including his teammates--when he called his own play at the line of scrimmage and raced seven yards on a bootleg to score what proved to be the decisive touchdown.

“I was supposed to get the ball,” Jackson said.

Instead, Kelly called the running play in the huddle and decoyed his teammates.

Jackson may have been the most shocked when Kelly pulled the handoff away from his hands.

“That’s good,” Kelly said. “That’s what I want him to think. If he doesn’t think he’s getting the ball, I did a bad job.”

On the two-point conversion, Kelly actually did throw the ball to Jackson to give Miami a 15-9 lead.

Kelly pulled another fast one at the end of the half. With everyone thinking Miami would run the clock out in the waning seconds from its own 33, Kelly instead heaved a Hail Mary pass.

He underthrew receiver Santana Moss, who adjusted to the pass, made the catch, juked three Ohio State defenders and completed a 67-yard play for a touchdown with eight seconds remaining.

The play buckled the Buckeyes. Miami made the two-point conversion and led at the half, 23-9.

While Kelly won’t soon forget those four turnovers, it was an impressive start.

For the first time since 1985, Miami has its full allotment of 85 scholarships, and 56 of those players are freshmen, redshirt freshmen or sophomores.

Miami still has some work left with formidable nonconference games ahead against Penn State and Florida State.

“No one will dominate the way they did in the 1980s and early ‘90s,” Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese said Sunday of the Hurricanes, who won four national titles in that span. “It’s impossible with the scholarship limitations. But they can be a team people will look in the eye and ask: Can they win the national title?”

Miami’s return to prominence is paramount to the Big East, which has been the subject of disbandment rumors for years.

Tranghese thinks Miami can help the entire conference.

“I think it has recruiting implications,” he said. “I’ve had coaches tell me, ‘If Miami gets good, it helps us.”’

Miami isn’t quite ready to put the Big East on its shoulders.

“We’re 1-0,” Coach Butch Davis said. “We’ve spent a long time rebuilding. We’re not back.”

Ohio State might beg to differ. John Cooper’s team figured to be down a bit this season, but it also figured the Buckeyes had enough talent to keep pace with Miami.

But while Kelly made enough big plays to win, Ohio State’s two young quarterbacks struggled.

The post-Joe Germaine era isn’t going to be easy.

Cooper started Austin Moherman, a sophomore from Mission Viejo, with mixed results. He completed 10 of 22 passes for 107 yards with one touchdown and an interception.

“I thought he played all right,” Cooper said.

Steve Bellisari was worse than that, fumbling a center snap in the second quarter that led to Miami’s go-ahead touchdown.

“I’m not down on Steve Bellisari,” Cooper said. “You can write whatever you want about the center snap. I like him. And he will play in the next game.”

That could be good news for UCLA, Ohio State’s Sept. 11 opponent.

As for Miami, the world is watching again. The Hurricanes play host to Florida A&M; next and then Penn State on Sept. 18 in one of the early season’s most intriguing matchups.

Is Miami back? “We’re really good, very good right now,” Kelly said. “For us to be categorized with the University of Miami of the late 1980s, we have to finish 13-0. If I’m sitting in the Louisiana Superdome [site of this year’s national title game], and I’m talking to you guys, and we come out with a win, I’ll say we’re back.”