 The season was the culmination of a gradual decline for the program since it won the national championship in 2001.In each following year, Miami appeared to have taken a step back in terms of national stature and its overall record, going from an undefeated national championship in 2001 to a national championship game loss in 2002 to a two-loss season in 2003 to back-to-back three loss seasons in 2004 and 2005, and a six-loss season in 2006.The team, which had the longest current streak of being ranked in the AP Poll, fell from the AP Top 25 in 2006 for the first time in 10 seasons.