GREAT LOSSES

Two very special games that can never be forgotten -- even though the Cornhuskers lost, they weren't beaten.

The gripping drama that unfolded inside Orange Bowl Stadium on Jan. 2, 1984, has been labeled by many as one of the greatest games to ever be played. 

The matchup between unbeaten, top-ranked Nebraska and fourth-ranked, once-humbled Miami featured everything -- a juggernaut favorite, a Heisman Trophy winner, a frenzied home crowd, a raucous underdog and an unforgettable finish. 

Nebraska came in at 12-0, having scored a school-record 624 points with wins over UCLA, Oklahoma, Missouri and defending national champ Penn State. NU was trying to become the first team to go poll-to-poll No.1 in more than a decade. 

Led by freshman quarterback Bernie Kosar, Miami raced to a big first-quarter lead against a Cornhusker defense that was on its heels all night. The Blackshirts had attempted to confuse Kosar by having cornerback Dave Burke and strong safety Mike McCashland switch jerseys, to no avail. Kosar's 22-yard bullet to Glenn Dennison with only 1:08 left in the first quarter put the 11-point-underdog 'Canes up 17-0.

The second quarter, however, belonged to Nebraska. As the Blackshirts strengthened their resolve, Outland Trophy winner Dean Steinkuhler scored on the "fumbleroosky" by picking up an intentional fumble by quarterback Turner Gill and lumbering 19 yards into the endzone. And dreams of NU's first National Championship in 12 years were kept alive with two minutes before halftime, as Gill scored on a 1-yard-run.

Nebraska's momentum continued into the third quarter. On the opening drive of the second half, the Hurricanes promptly fumbled, and the Huskers recovered. As Nebraska capitalized with Scott Livingston's 34-yard field goal to pull even with Miami, it appeared the Hurricanes' jig was up, and that the inevitable rout was on. 

But the towering Kosar, who sported the jersey number of a running back (20) and an unorthodox throwing style to match, led the Hurricanes to 14 straight third-quarter scores. And NU's chances looked even bleaker when 2,000-yard rusher and Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier left the game in the third quarter with a severely sprained ankle, never to return. 

Rozier's replacement, Jeff Smith, ran like a man possessed in roaring for 99 yards on nine carries in relief. Still, the junior fumbled at the Miami two-yard line following a 35-yard run at the end of the third quarter, and as the final 15 minutes of the 1983 season began, NU found itself in a 31-17 hole.

Smith came back to pull the Huskers to within one point, 31-30, with a dazzling fourth-down, 24-yard touchdown run. Only 48 seconds remained in the game.

What followed was a play -- a decision, actually -- that defined Tom Osborne's career. Eschewing a single extra-point that would tie the game and most certainly hand Nebraska the National Championship, Osborne ordered a two-point try for the win. 

Gill rolled to his right and, under pressure, flinged a pass toward Smith. But Hurricane strong safety Ken Calhoun, who wore No. 2, got two fingers on Gill's offering. The deflected, wobbling ball glanced off Smith's shoulder pad and fell harmlessly to the turf.

"There was no doubt in Tom Osborne's mind, and there was no doubt in my mind," UM Coach Howard Schnellenberger would say after the game. "It was a championship game, and he went after it like a champion."

Long after the lights went out in Miami, the Hurricanes were voted No. 1. But for those who witnessed The Call, there was no doubt as to which team was the true champion.

- N - 

~ 1 9 9 4   O R A N G E   B O W L ~
FLORIDA STATE 18, NEBRASKA 16
J A N U A R Y   1,   1 9 9 4 

The Nebraska Cornhuskers had a team slogan that carried them to a hair's breadth of the National Championship in 1993: "We Refuse To Lose." After a furious, frenzied, frenetic New Year's thriller in Miami, they left with newfound national respect -- and new motto, too: "Unfinished Business."

Though NU was 11-0 and ranked No. 1 in the Coaches' and Bowl Coalition polls, the Cornhuskers still were tagged as 17-point underdogs to Bobby Bowden's 10-1 Florida State Seminoles. The 'Noles featured a furious, razor-sharp defense and a fast-break offense engineered by Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, while Nebraska was led by sophomore option wizard Tommie Frazier and Butkus Award winner Trev Alberts. Both schools were trying to hand their respective coaches his first title with a victory in the Orange Bowl.

From the outset, it was obvious that this game would not be a Seminole cakewalk as many in the national media had predicted. Nebraska's defense, retooled by coaches to be fast, mean and immovable, kept the high-powered FSU offense at bay nearly all night long. And the Cornhuskers appeared to have gotten an early break with Corey Dixon's twisting, winding, sprinting punt return for a touchdown. However, the score was nullified when officials called an unidentified Husker for making an illegal block.

Scott Bentley's 34-yard field goal gave the Seminoles a 3-0 lead with 7:54 left in the first half. But less than two minutes later, sophomore Reggie Baul grabbed a tipped pass by Frazier and raced 34 yards untouched for the game's first touchdown.

Bentley again hit a field goal, this time in the closing seconds of the first half, to make the halftime score Nebraska 7, Florida State 6. And on FSU's first drive of the third quarter, the Seminoles took their first lead on a 1-yard William Floyd touchdown run. The Huskers and television replays claimed otherwise -- the ball left the fullback's arms a half-yard before Floyd crossed the plane of the goal -- but the TD stood. By the time Bentley's third field goal of the evening made it 15-7 with 3:06 left in the third quarter, Florida State appeared to be establishing control of the struggle.

Lesser Nebraska teams may have folded, this group reached deeper than it ever had before. True freshman Lawrence Phillips, playing in place of the injured Calvin Jones, burst for a 12-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter, and following a failed two-point try Nebraska trailed, 15-13.

Meanwhile, the Blackshirts stymied Ward and the rest of the Seminole high-flying act, turning away one Seminole drive after another. Set up by Phillips' 17-yard dash and Frazier's electric 32-yard run to the FSU 4, NU placekicker Byron Bennett's 27 yard field goal appeared to give Nebraska the win with 1:16 remaining.

However, it wasn't to be. Starting from the 35, Ward orchestrated a lightning-in-a-bottle drive in the final minute, and Bentley's fourth and final field goal -- with 21 seconds left -- put the 'Noles ahead by two.

Frazier wasn't through, though. With the ball at the NU 43 and 15 seconds left, the sophomore hit senior Trumane Bell for 29 yards, giving Bennett a shot at a game-winner with one second left.

But Bennett's kick, facing the end zone where Turner Gill's two-point pass fell incomplete a decade earlier, sailed wide left. Finally, FSU could celebrate.

There was pain for the Huskers, but no shame. Seminole players left the Orange Bowl holding onto the Sears Trophy tightly that night -- because everyone knew that better team had not won.

- N -

Back to ALL-TIME HUSKER LISTS

Back to THE POND