The play was designed to get a first down. To build some momentum and keep the chains moving.

Yet Miami running back Willis McGahee took the screen pass 68 yards that October afternoon against Florida State, setting up the go-ahead touchdown in a game the Hurricanes appeared destined to loose.

McGahee's Heisman ballot

ESPN.com asked each of the Heisman finalists for their vote (excluding themselves). Here's Willis McGahee's take. 1. Ken Dorsey, QB, Miami "He's the defending champion. He's built this program into what it is." 2. Seneca Wallace, QB, Iowa State "All season long, he showed the ability to make plays every time he touched the ball. In the Florida State game, I was shocked, he just found a way to make things happen." 3. Byron Leftwich, QB, Marshall "His second season in a row with over 4,000 yards passing. I don't care who you're playing, when you're doing that, you should have a chance."

It was almost too successful. The Hurricanes scored on the next play, giving Florida State the ball back, down by one, with 5:17 to go.

Not until Xavier Beitia's 43-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left did Miami win. But when they did, the top-ranked Hurricanes survived their closest scare of the season and suddenly found themselves with two Heisman candidates on their hands.

"When you run scared you run your best," McGahee said. "Early on in that game, I was too relaxed. But by the fourth quarter, the fear was back. I didn't want to lose. And that was the difference."

The scoring drive took all of two plays and 19 seconds. It would have been even shorter had McGahee not been caught from behind on his sprint to the endzone. But it was hot. It was humid. And it was late in the fourth quarter. Few players had much of anything left.

"At that point in the game, the absolute last thing I wanted to hear was screen pass," said center Brett Romberg. "It was like 105 heat index, I was beat, everybody was beat and then they come in with this physically exhausting play. But somehow, Willis and everybody else dug deep down in our toes or something to get that one done."

The play was called with purpose. Throughout the game, McGahee said, Florida State's linebackers were cheating to the strong side of the field. And the Hurricanes had yet to call a screen pass in a game all season. But it made sense. With the Seminoles crowding the line of scrimmage, the argument went, let's get our best runner in the open field and see what he can do.

"As soon as the play came in, I told (receiver) Andre (Johnson), 'just block the will linebacker and I'll bust one,'" McGahee said. "Then I get the ball, Romberg pulls and we're off to the races."

Were they ever. Romberg was a third of the way down the field, assuming the play was over, when he finally realized what happened and leveled somebody.

"I didn't see anybody, so I thought for sure he was tackled back at the line of scrimmage," Romberg said. "Then I hear the crowd start roaring and I can just sense Willis coming up behind me. So I started digging and digging to find somebody to block, some helpless little defensive back. When I did, it was gravy."

The block should have sprang McGahee for the score. But that early in the season, he says, he didn't quite have his legs.

Regardless, saving the day for Miami would become commonplace for the first-year starter. Maybe not in situations as desperate as the one against Florida State, but equally important. In games against Florida, Boston College, West Virginia and Virginia Tech, a McGahee run sealed the opponents fate.

And more times than not, he landed in the endzone.

"Whenever we needed a spark, he gave us that spark," quarterback Ken Dorsey said. "But I still can't believe he got caught on that screen. I mean, I thought I'd get a touchdown pass out of that."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn3.com.