University of Miami
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50 free University of Miami trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The University of Miami packs a lot of story into a short history. It opened in the 1920s just as South Florida's land boom went bust, scraped by for years, and grew into a major research university with one of the most talked-about football programs in America. This quiz gathers the best University of Miami fun facts in one place. Expect the school's rocky founding, the traditions behind the Hurricanes and their mascot, unforgettable football games and coaches, big moments in baseball and basketball, and alumni who went on to Hollywood, the pop charts, the Olympics and politics. Several questions would be at home on a Jeopardy board. It is written for students, alumni, Canes fans and families planning a campus visit, and for anyone who enjoys college trivia. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you pick up the backstory even when you guess wrong.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In University of Miami folklore, which marsh bird is the last to shelter before a hurricane and first to return?
Ibis
Ibis became the name of the student yearbook in 1926, three decades before a costumed bird called Sebastian first appeared at homecoming.
Q 02Which future Hollywood star played defensive tackle on the University of Miami's 1991 national champion football team?
Dwayne Johnson
Dwayne Johnson was mostly a backup, starting once in 39 games, and the football locker room was later renamed in his honor after a $1 million gift.
Q 03The University of Miami's three school colors stand for the fruit, leaves and blossoms of which Florida plant?
The orange tree
The orange tree supplies all three shades: one for the fruit, green for the leaves and white for the blossoms, a scheme chosen in 1926, the year classes began.
Q 04Which rapper filmed much of the 2018 music video for God's Plan on the University of Miami campus?
Drake
Drake handed student Destiny James an oversized $50,000 check for her tuition while the cameras rolled.
Q 05Which baseball star paid $3.9 million to renovate the University of Miami ballpark without ever playing college ball?
Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez signed a letter of intent with the Hurricanes, but went first overall in the 1993 draft at 17 and signed with Seattle instead; the stadium now carries his name.
Q 06Which action star left the University of Miami's drama program in 1969 and was granted his degree three decades later?
Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone asked that his acting and life experience count toward the credits he still lacked, and the university awarded him a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1998.
Q 07Miami University, founded in 1809 and unrelated to the University of Miami in Florida, sits in which Midwestern state?
Ohio
Ohio's Miami University is named for the Miami Valley, itself named for the Myaamia people, and is more than a century older than its Florida namesake.
Q 08Which Latin pop star worked as an airport customs translator while studying at the University of Miami in the 1970s?
Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan graduated in 1979, having agreed to sing with Miami Sound Machine only on weekends so that her studies would not suffer.
Q 09Since the 1950s, University of Miami football players have run onto the field through a cloud of what?
Smoke
Smoke was the idea of transportation director Bob Nalette, who welded pipes above the tunnel and fed them with fire extinguishers to stir up the crowd.
Q 10Although named for a city, the University of Miami has been which kind of school ever since its 1925 charter?
Private
Private from the start, the university went bankrupt in 1932, and students once went door to door collecting money to keep it open.
Q 11The University of Miami's main campus lies outside Miami's city limits, in which neighboring city founded in the 1920s?
Coral Gables
Coral Gables was laid out as a planned 'City Beautiful' of Mediterranean Revival buildings, and the campus sits about seven miles southwest of downtown Miami.
Q 12Which real estate developer pledged $5 million and donated the land to found the University of Miami in 1925?
George Merrick
George Merrick made the gift at the peak of the Florida land boom, which collapsed before the first students arrived in 1926.
Q 13Classes held behind thin partitions in a nearby hotel gave the young University of Miami which nickname?
Cardboard College
Q 21Howard Schnellenberger's Hurricanes won Miami's first national title by upsetting which top-ranked team 31–30?
Nebraska
Nebraska scored late and went for two points and the win rather than kick for a tie, but Miami's Kenny Calhoun broke up the pass.
Q 22The 2001 Miami Hurricanes, often rated among college football's greatest teams, clinched the title in which game?
Rose Bowl
The Rose Bowl had not been played without a Big Ten or Pac-10 team since 1919; Miami won it 37–14, and that roster went on to produce a record 38 NFL draft picks.
Q 23Which freshman quarterback led Miami to its first national title and later played for the Cleveland Browns?
Bernie Kosar
Cardboard College came about because a 1926 hurricane and the land bust left the first campus building half built for more than two decades, pushing classes into the hotel.
Q 14Which former US Secretary of Health and Human Services was president of the University of Miami from 2001 to 2015?
Donna Shalala
Donna Shalala had earlier run the University of Wisconsin–Madison, making her the first woman to head a Big Ten university.
Q 15The University of Miami hosted a 2004 presidential debate between George W. Bush and which Democratic challenger?
John Kerry
John Kerry and Bush met in the campus arena where the Hurricanes play basketball, with Jim Lehrer moderating and 62.5 million people watching.
Q 16Which US agency leased University of Miami buildings from 1961 to 1968 to run a covert station code-named JMWAVE?
The CIA
The CIA station grew into the agency's largest anywhere outside its headquarters, with hundreds of operatives and front companies across South Florida.
Q 17The University of Miami's Richter Library holds the largest collection outside the country itself on which nation?
Cuba
Cuba's ties to the campus go back to 1930, when the University of Havana closed amid unrest and some of its professors and more than 60 students moved to Miami.
Q 18The University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of marine science has its campus on which island in Biscayne Bay?
Virginia Key
Virginia Key gives the school a waterfront campus next to a federal ocean laboratory, and a tank there can whip up hurricane-force wind and waves on demand.
Q 19The man-made lake at the center of the University of Miami campus honors which 19th-century Seminole leader?
Osceola
Osceola gives his name to a freshwater lake that was only developed in the late 1940s, two decades after the university's first classes.
Q 20Which composer of the Broadway hit Hello, Dolly! gave his name to the University of Miami's campus theater?
Jerry Herman
Jerry Herman graduated in drama in 1953, and the first revue he staged in New York was built from material he had written as a Miami student.
Bernie Kosar started every game of the 1983 season as a freshman, while his backup, Vinny Testaverde, waited two years and then won the 1986 Heisman Trophy.
Q 24Which rival handed the Miami Hurricanes their first regular-season loss in three years with a 31–30 win in October 1988?
Notre Dame
Notre Dame students printed the T-shirt that gave the game its lasting nickname, Catholics vs. Convicts, and a batted-down two-point pass sealed the win.
Q 25Which rival lost to the Miami Hurricanes in 1991 and 1992 on last-second missed kicks known as Wide Right?
Florida State
Florida State lost five games to Miami in twelve years on late missed field goals, a run that eventually included a Wide Left as well.
Q 26Which Boston College quarterback beat the Miami Hurricanes in 1984 with a 48-yard touchdown pass on the final play?
Doug Flutie
Doug Flutie threw for 472 yards that day, and receiver Gerard Phelan caught the last pass untouched in the end zone for a 47–45 win.
Q 27Which team ended the Miami Hurricanes' NCAA-record run of 58 straight home wins in 1994?
Washington
Washington won 38–20 to halt a streak that had begun nine years earlier with a 38–0 shutout of Cincinnati.
Q 28Which University of Miami quarterback later led the Buffalo Bills to four consecutive Super Bowls?
Jim Kelly
Jim Kelly picked Miami because Penn State's Joe Paterno wanted him to play linebacker, not quarterback.
Q 29Which University of Miami linebacker was named MVP of Super Bowl XXXV with the Baltimore Ravens?
Ray Lewis
Ray Lewis led a Ravens defense that season that allowed just 165 points, the fewest of any 16-game NFL schedule.
Q 30Which University of Miami receiver, nicknamed the Playmaker, won three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys?
Michael Irvin
Michael Irvin formed the Cowboys' 'Triplets' alongside quarterback Troy Aikman and running back Emmitt Smith.