Prologue to a Championship
As an alumnus of Florida State University, I probably follow college football more than most. Our football team, the Seminoles, had suffered heartbreaking losses for many years to rivals such as the University of Miami and the University of Florida throughout the 1980’s and early 1990’s.
A Championship Season?
All of this changed in 1993, when the Seminoles entered the season rated as the #1 team in the country. Led by Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Charlie Ward, Florida State started 9-0, including beating the University of Miami 28-10, en route to a match-up of the top two teams against #2 Notre Dame. Notre Dame pulled out a 31-24 victory at Notre Dame Stadium with a last second deflection of a Charlie Ward pass deep in Notre Dame territory. Notre Dame lost its next game with a last second loss to Boston College while Florida State was able to beat North Carolina State and the University of Florida to return to the #1 ranking and an invite to the 1994 Orange Bowl.
The 1994 Orange Bowl
Florida State’s opponent in the 1994 Orange Bowl was #2 Nebraska, the champion of the Big 8 Conference. Led by QB Tommie Frazier, LB Trev Alberts and freshman RB Lawrence Phillips, Nebraska completed an undefeated regular season. Like Florida State’s head coach, Bobby Bowden; Nebraska head coach Tom Osborne had never led Nebraska to a national championship in his 21 years at the helm. For Nebraska, the Orange Bowl was a game that they had lost in their previous four appearances, including during the two previous seasons. Nebraska entered as much as a 17.5 point underdog.
After a scoreless first quarter that included a Nebraska punt return touchdown was called back for a penalty, Florida State highly touted freshman kicker Scott Bentley opened the scoring with a 33 yard field goal. Bentley nailed a 25 yard field goal near halftime to bring the score to 7-6. Nebraska’s lone score in the first half was a Tommie Frazier touchdown pass to Reggie Baul, a pass deflected to his hands.
Florida State opened the scoring in the second half with its lone touchdown, a 1 yard touchdown run by William Floyd. A two point conversion failed to bring the score to 12-7. A third Bentley field goal brought the score to 15-7 Florida State going into the fourth quarter.
Nebraska’s final touchdown was scored by Phillips early in the fourth quarter, bringing the scoring to 15-13 after the two point conversion failed. Nebraska grabbed its final lead of the game with 1:18 remaining with Byron Bennett nailing a 27 yard field goal to make the score 16-15. Florida State scored for the last time when Scott Bentley nailed the eventual game-winning field goal with 21 seconds left. Nebraska mustered one final drive and was able to get into position to attempt a 45 yard field goal with 1 second left, but Bennett missed wide left.
This was the first of nine straight national championship games where either one competed in the contest. In addition, both schools combined to win four national titles in the next six seasons.