4 CHAPTER 1 TOM GETS A TITLE University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football coach Tom Osborne had accomplished a lot during his first 21 years coaching in Lincoln Nebraska He had led the team to a 206-47 record since taking over in 1973. And he had won 10 Big Eight Conference championships during that time But his teams had never won a national title The Huskers had come close on January 1 1994. At the time the Big Eight champion was invited to the Orange Bowl in Florida It is one of the biggest and most important bowl games Nebraska earned the invitation that season But the Cornhuskers lost the Orange Bowl to Florida State 18-16 If Nebraska had won the media members who voted in the Associated Press AP Poll would likely have named the Cornhuskers the national champion Instead Osborne would have to wait for another chance Quarterback Brook Berringer stepped in and helped lead Nebraska to the Orange Bowl following the 1994 season
He did not have to wait long ORANGE BOWL Nebraska players nicknamed the BEATINGS 1994 season Unfinished Business For the second consecutive year they After a dominant run from 1970 to 1972 during which they won went undefeated during the regular three straight Orange Bowls the season And on January 1 1995 the Cornhuskers lost seven of their Cornhuskers found themselves in the next eight Orange Bowl games same position as the year before This That included three losses to time they faced the Miami Hurricanes Miami and two to Florida State in the Orange Bowl They even lost three in a row from 1991 to 1993 before facing The game was played in front of a Miami in the January 1 1995 then record 81,753 fans The stadium Orange Bowl which was also called the Orange Bowl was the Hurricanes home field Miami had only lost once in its previous 63 games there Nebraska was ranked number one in the nation Miami was ranked third Just like the previous year if Nebraska won the game it would almost certainly be named the national champion The Cornhuskers had overcome many obstacles during the 1994 season They started the season 4-0 But junior quarterback Tommie Frazier one of the team's best players developed a blood clot in his knee Nebraska turned to junior Brook Berringer But he suffered a partially collapsed lung and missed parts of two games So Nebraska was forced to use a third quarterback sophomore Matt Turman Still the Cornhuskers kept on winning all the way to 6
Nebraska fans had faith in their team and coach Tom Osborne heading into the 1995 Orange Bowl against Miami the Orange Bowl And that night in Miami just as they had done all season they were forced to overcome adversity Nebraska did not get off to a good start The Cornhuskers prided themselves on their defense But Hurricanes quarterback Frank Costa completed six of eight passes for 130 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter Meanwhile defensive tackle Warren Sapp and Miami's top ranked defense kept Nebraska off the scoreboard in the 7
