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
first quarter Even Frazier's heroic return after missing eight games was not enough The score was 10-0 Miami after 15 minutes The Hurricanes were threatening to blow out the Cornhuskers But then Berringer replaced Frazier and threw a 19 yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Mark Gilman Nebraska went into halftime down 10-7 In the locker room Osborne gathered his team He knew that Miami played an aggressive style of defense and was known for intimidating its opponents He told his players to stick to their game plan If they did Miami's fast defensive players would get tired and frustrated Then they might start to commit penalties BROOK BERRINGER In the 1993 season sophomore quarterback Tommie Frazier had come up just short of leading Nebraska to the national title Naturally some fans thought Nebraska had no chance to win the national championship when Frazier suffered his blood clot in 1994. But Brook Berringer stepped in and the Cornhuskers did not miss a beat With Berringer under center the team went 8-0 including a 24–7 victory over No. 2 Colorado on October 29 that vaulted the Cornhuskers to the top of the AP poll Tragically Berringer was killed in a plane crash in April 1996. A statue of Berringer and Tom Osborne stands outside the Tom and Nancy Osborne Athletic Complex on the University of Nebraska campus 8
Nebraska fullback Cory Schlesinger dives into the end zone for the game winning touchdown in the 1995 Orange Bowl But the momentum Nebraska had gained in the second quarter was quickly lost Miami scored in the first two minutes of the second half to go up 17-7 Nebraska cut that lead to just eight points a few minutes later when the Cornhuskers defense forced a safety Nebraska's defense was starting to heat up It put constant pressure on Costa and forced the Hurricanes to punt again and again Miami still led 17-9 heading into the fourth quarter Osborne knew he had to do something to get his team's offense going So he put Frazier back under center And the Cornhuskers got back into the end zone Frazier and sophomore running back Lawrence Phillips kept attacking Miami on the ground The Hurricanes big defensive linemen were starting to get tired just what Osborne was counting on People were used to seeing Frazier and Phillips gain a lot of rushing yards But it was senior fullback Cory Schlesinger who played 9
