As some of you may or may not know, on November 10th, the Orange Bowl Stadium will hold its final Sporting event as Miami takes on Virginia. After the game, the stadium is set to be demolished. To celebrate the Orange Bowl's legacy, I present to you the Top 5 moments All-Time in the Orange Bowl stadium. At Number 5, it is the 1995 Orange Bowl Game between Nebraska and Miami.
In 1973, following his win in the Orange Bowl, Nebraska head coach, Bob Devaney announced his retirement. A few days later, Tom Osborne was announced as head coach of Nebraska. He was immediately met with early success with two 9-win seasons. In his third Nebraska started 10-0 and seemed poised for a National Championship. However a 35-10 loss at Oklahoma and a 3 point loss to Arizona State in the Fiesta Bowl eliminated the Huskers.
He had another 10 win start in 1979 but again fell to the Sooners and to Houston in the 1980 Cotton Bowl. In the 1982 season, Nebraska won the Big Eight and had 1 loss heading into the 1983 Orange Bowl. Despite knocking off LSU, the Huskers weren't voted National Champion finishing 3rd behind Penn State(who beat NU) and SMU. Finally, in 1983, they had another chance. Going unbeaten with points scored in the 50's all year, Nebraska went to the 1984 Orange Bowl only to be met(and beaten by underdog Miami, 31-30(more on that later).
10 frustrating years later, the Huskers had another shot. In 1993, they went 11-0 advancing to the Orange Bowl against Florida State. In a back and forth battle of field goals, the Noles knocked off the Huskers following a missed field goal, 18-16. The Huskers were heartbroken, yet determined to return to the title game. Thats just what they did as the Huskers went 12-0 en route to another Orange Bowl birth to face a familiar foe, Miami. Going into the game many questioned who would get the National Championship. Miami had lost at the beginning of the year to Washington at home and was ranked 3 while 2 Penn State played in the Rose Bowl and some wondered if Miami was deserving of the championship if they beat the Huskers(especially since Penn State, themselves were unbeaten).
Another question going in was who would start at QB for Nebraska. The starter at the beginning of the year, Tommie Frazier had not played since the opener due to a blood clot in his leg. Back-up Brooks Berringer would lead the team and went 10-0 as starter. It wasn't until moments prior to the game that Coach Osborne went with Frazier as the starter. Within minutes ghost of the past haunted Osborne and the Huskers as the Canes jumped out to a 10-0 lead. With the offense struggling, Osborne elected to put Berringer in and on his 2nd drive Berringer connected with Tight End Mark Gilman to make it 10-7.
However, Frank Costa and the Canes continued striking as they took a 17-7 halftime lead and all hope seemed lost for the Huskers. As the 3rd Quarter began, things were in favor of Miami until Costa was sacked in his own end zone for a safety that proved to be the turning point of the game. The defensive play sparked the Huskers offense as Tommie Frazier came back in and connected with Cory Scheleslinger to make a 17-15. Suddenly the drama of the '84 Orange Bowl was repeating itself. However, unlike the 84 game, the two-point conversion was good and it was deadlocked at 17.
Miami continued to struggle moving the ball and continued punting the ball. Finally, Nebraska took the lead with a little under 5 minutes to go to make it 24-17. The score would prove to be last as Nebraska shut down Costa and the Canes again to give Nebraska a 24-17 win in front of a majority Cane crowd. It finally happened, after 22 years Osborne had finally won the National Championship. This championship would be the first of 3 for Osborne and his only victory over Miami(1-3 all-time vs Canes). A year later Nebraska repeated dominating all opponents including a 62-24 blowout of Florida in the Fiesta Bowl. Nebraska would win again in 1997 beating Peyton Manning and the Tennessee Volunteers 42-3 in the Orange Bowl in what was Osborne's last game.
Miami's loss would be the end of the Canes 1st Dynasty(1983-1995) as NCAA sanctions left the program broken and Coach Dennis Erickson, winner of 2 National Championships with Miami left for the Seahawks. Player wise Costa would fade into obscurity while 2 of Miami's defensive players(Warren Sapp and Ray Lewis) would go on to have amazing careers in the NFL. Neither Frazier or Berringer made it to the NFL. Blood clots in the leg would continue to haunt Frazier and on April 18, 1996, Brook Berringer tragically died in a plane crash.
I would like to dedicate this blog to the memory of Brook Berringer.
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