South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • Page 31

Sun-Sentinel, Monday, January 2, 1995 Section A 3DI Hiistars put (LMi DAVE HYDE Commentary i a J) V. He wins in a walk; it's Osborne's style T7 JTT" IAMI He ended the good I 1 1 night's work and quietly I I I thanked those around him. I I But he did not smile. He -JL. II would not gloat.

A gentleman never loses his manners, no matter if everyone around him is losing their heads. And so as the final seconds ticked down at this, his first national championship, Tom Osborne moved unhurriedly to midfield on his own legs and not anyone's shoulders, because the Nebraska coach has built a career out of having his own two feet firmly planted on the ground. That wouldn't change now, just as it hadn't in all those numbing defeats on this same Orange Bowl field. Someone threw a bucket of ice water his way. He shook it off with no reaction.

Others threw more congratulations for his 24-17 victory over the University of Miami in the Orange Bowl Classic. "Thank you, thank you," he kept saying, all the while looking for coach Dennis Erickson's hand to shake, because he couldn't consider a game really over and a title officially won until the last gentlemanly act was done. Class ending for a class act So there was a certain majesty to this, a big sports name finally getting his due and his personality ringing true through it. This was the warm story of Sunday night's game, no matter what the mostly Miami crowd thought. You know what it thought, too: We blew it.

We let it all go. We dropped the end of an Orange Bowl era and probably the Erickson era as well by misplacing a 17-9 fourth-quarter lead. No doubt the Miami players thought this. They filed angrily into the locker room, one upset enough to punch a dent in the wall, followed by another who repeated the punch. By the time everyone was in, the dent had grown to a healthy hole.

Their dream had disappeared into the January night, just as quarterback Frank Costa kept doing under the Nebraska rush and Nebraska runners kept doing in the east end-zone. Miami had 4 total yards on its last five possessions. Nebraska had two title-shaking touchdowns. That was the game. So there's some sense in Miami's frustration.

There's just better sense in looking it as a nation will: After 22 years, after going win-less in his past seven bowl games, after acting the champion but never filling the role, Tom Osborne finally got his fitting reward. Celebrate Osborne's win After all, Osborne, 58, has built a career of class. So it only makes sense for everyone to return it in kind. He had set himself up for a fall this year, too, if the ending came out as it had in seven of his eight Orange Bowls. He swapped quarterbacks, against most football logic.

Each provided a spark, though, with Tommie Fra-zier ending the game in style and being named its most valuable player by the media. rtnnhf if Nebraska will Dlav in this stadi ni.ni-.. Staff photoROBERT MAYER The run to glory: 'Huskers' Cory Schlesinger scores his 2nd 4th-quarter TD, exorcising Nebraska's demons against UM in the Orange Bowl. Title is likely after 24-17 win Penn State bid for title is lost By GORDON EDES Staff Writer PASADENA, Calif. On his first trip to the Rose Bowl, Joe Paterno closed Penn State practices and changed the team's hotel three times.

But as much as the Nittany Lions' coach tried to shut out the outside world, he couldn't control what he watched on TV Sunday night. Nebraska's 24-17 win over Miami in the Orange Bowl almost certainly turned today's 81st Rose Bowl game into the Runner-up Bowl. Paterno's bid for a third season ending with Penn State ranked No. 1 now depends not only on a win here this afternoon over Oregon, a 17-point underdog, but on the whim of pollsters. And the voters already showed their preference for the Cornhuskers even before their win over the Hurricanes.

Regardless of the Orange Bowl outcome, there was still much for Penn State and Paterno to accomplish in Arroyo Seco this afternoon: A win over Oregon and the Nittany Lions finish 12-0 for Paterno's fifth unbeaten season, and Paterno will have won more bowl games (16) than any coach in history, one more than Alabama's Bear Bryant. The Nittany Lions also have the chance to cement their case that they have perhaps the best offense in college football history. College football? Penn State wide receiver Freddie Scott said that when he sur- PLEASE SEE ROSE BOWL 8D By RANDALL MELL Staff Writer MIAMI Cory Schlesinger ran through the heart of the University of Miami defense, rumbled past two decades of frustration back in the Nebraska plains and tumbled into the promised land late on New Year's Night in the FedEx Orange Bowl Classic. Schlesinger spilled into the end zone at the end of a 14-yard touchdown run with 2:46 left in the game to lift the top-ranked Cornhuskers to a heart-thumping 24-17 victory against the third-ranked Hurricanes. The touchdown run did more than end a thrilling comeback.

It ended years of misery and heartache. It ended Nebraska's string of seven straight bowl losses. It broke UM's spell three straight Orange Bowl victories against the Cornhuskers. It also probably won Tom Osborne his first national title in 22 years as Nebraska's coach. The national title won't be official until the polls are released Tuesday morning by the Associated Press and USA TodayCNN, but it's a foregone conclusion.

This was Osborne's crowning achievement. "It's a great way to close it out," Osborne said. "Playing Miami in Miami, and finally beating them. We've really had a terrible time with these folks." PLEASE SEE 'HUSKERS 1 1 Staff photoROBERT DUYOS um again," Osborne said. "This is a great way UM's Frank Costa tossed two TDs, but his New Year's Day ends with a crushing defeat.

It's fifth quarter in French Quarter to close it out, beating Miami, Decause we ve had a lot of trouble with these folks and Florida State, too." Where was the me-f irst giddiness? The ego-stuffing words? There was none of that from Osborne, just as those who have followed his career knew there wouldn't be. This wasn't the end of a rainbow by his measure. In his book, he remembers being a Nebraska assistant when it won the '71 national title. He describes feeling empty, sitting on the team bus afterward, because he realized the thrill was in the hunt more than the catch. Of course, there is one plus to Sunday win.

Osborne spent this and every other Orange Bowl claiming it wasn't the lack of a national title that haunted him. It was the questions that came because of that. Now those questions are gone. In their place comes another that, for at least one night, even a gentleman will have the sense not to answer at all: Can you repeat? den's all-time best bowl winning percentage of .794 (13-3-1). Florida (10-1-1) is ranked No.

5, and a victory would give the Gators the best record in the school's long history. "We have a little more on the line than Florida," Bowden said, "but it's hard to get the players focused on those incentives when all they hear about is the rivalry." Bowden has told his players, while they're not playing for the national championship, what the rewards of victory are. "You can't let yourself get caught up in personal goals," Bowden said, "but I did point out to them there would be much at stake for us in this game, even PLEASE SEE REMATCH 2D UF, FSU resume 31-31 grudge match By CRAIG BARNES Staff Writer NEW ORLEANS For Florida State, most of the talk surrounding tonight's Sugar Bowl has centered around the rematch with arch-rival Florida. A typical observation would be the one of fullback Zack Crockett who said, "This is two games for one, 60 minutes, of overtime. This is for all the marbles." Here, the game in the Louisiana Su-perdome is billed "Overtime" and the "Fifth Quarter in the French Quarter." Lost in the hype about the 31-31 tie played between the two on Nov.

26 are some very important reasons for both teams to win, especially the Seminoles. Florida State (9-1-1) has won 10 games in seven straight seasons but only in 1989 and 1990 did the bowl game mean the 10th win. The Seminoles also have finished in the top 4 for seven consecutive seasons. Coming in at No. 7, they may need some assistance from higher ranked teams to make it that high, even if they do win.

The Seminoles have won nine straight bowl games and gone 12 straight bowl games without a loss, both team records they hope to extend as well as improve coach Bobby Bow- For 30-mlnut updates on all bowl garnet, call Sourca Line at 523-5463 In Broward, 496-5483 In South Palm Beach, 625-5463 In North Palm Beach AP photoSTEPHAN SAVOIA Steve Spurrier announces suspension of two players. Story, 2D. and 866-5463 In Dado. Enter 3325. in EH.