Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 11

Lincoln Journal-Star Pass 1 1 Monday, JanuarV 2, 1995 nPTrWNT Misery, I fesr mystery 1 arp over vv if Nebraska rallies to beat Miami, stake claim to national title. By Ken Hambleton Lincoln Journal-Star MIAMI Finished. ConiDleted Done. Over. The fat lady is singing, "There is No Place Like Nebraska.

Comhuskers frolicked on the field and in the locker room at the Orange Bowl for the first time since trie ena of the 1971 season as Nebraska beat Miami 24-17 Sunday night in the Orange Bowl btadium. The victory apparently gives me 13-n and ton-ranked Comhuskers the ''hi mythical national college football 7 A' Nebraska defensive tackle Jason defeat Miami in the Orange AuocKjtwl Prtis Jenkins (front) carries place-kicker Tom Seiler off the field as they celebrate coming back to A Number of NU Numbers Bsbcock I Sports Columnist Cleveland Quarterback Vinny Testaverde leads the Browns to victorv aaainst New England in the opening round of the NFL playoffs. AFC: Vinnv Testaverde rjassed for 2bu vards and one touchdown to lead the Cleve land Browns past the New Enaland Patriots 20-13. The quarterback's performance earned the Browns a secona-round meeting with division rival Pittsburgh. Page 13.

NFC: Steve Walsh threw two touchdowns and the Chi-caoo Bears turned two turn overs into touchdownsto stun NFC Central champion iwinne-; soia aa-ia. senaina viKinas quarterback Warren Moon to his fourth piayott loss in row. page id. Aarden Brown College basketball bTod 25 men: Louisville freshman center Samaki Walker set a school record with 11 blocked shots as the Cardmas uDset firth-ranked Kentucky 88-86. ine wildcats were seeking -their fifth straight victory against Louis- vine, rage n.

Nebraska women: Ro- quayyah Brown came off the tench to score a career-hiah 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting as the Comhuskers defeated fVilnatA QS-R2 at the uevanev Sports Center. Pyra: Aarden also scored zv points we-. braska. Page iz. Nebraska menr The Comhuskers are the nation's 29th-best men's team, ac-rnrrlino to the Ratina Percent age Index.

The RPI has been used by the NCAA since 1981 tn hfiln select at-larae teams and seed all teams for the NCAA Tournament. Page 12. Patemo Alvarez, College football Fiesta Bowl: Monday's oame aaainst Notre Dame marks the end of Bill McCartnev's tenure as Colo rado coach. But after a'Vaca-' tion, he plans to return to, the school to work for the' CU Foundation in a fund-raising role. Page 12.

bSrm Bowl: Coach Joe Paterno's second-ranked ppnn state team, the only tin- rififeated team other than No. 1 Nebraska, is favored to rout rvennn. but the comhuskers victory has made the antici- Dated rout of the Ducks ami- climactic. Page 13. mm IJ-II I EafMtt RnUll- A nail wi rm i La star receiver DroKe nis iey w-fore opening day, a Heisman Trnnhw honflful was arrested inr fnfaina rvittciRSSiOn.

2fld IWI 1, qreat expectations collapsed Uic. imn d--i icvajiu i- rnnrh and eX-Huskef Barry Alvarez. Page 13. -t: Peach Bowl: Terry Har? vey passed for one touch down ana set up arrow wim a 62-yard completion as No. 23 North Carolina State beat -tfith-ranked MiSSiSSlDDi State rn.OA.

MiReilsslDDi 1 State reached the Wolfpack 28 In the closing minutes, raga (Si title for the first ume since isra r-and third time overall ending a streak of misery and mystery of play-' ing Miami in Miami. In the 1984 game, Miami tipped away a conversion pass that would have given Nebraska a national title. In 1994, a last-second field goal sailed wide in an 18-16 loss to Florida State for the national uue. -This time. Nebraska made the two-1 point, conversion after a 15-yard touchdown run by fullback Cory Schlesinger ip tie the score with 7:38 left.

Then: the Comhuskers slammed in another Schlesineer touchdown on a 14-yard run with 2:46 left to snap a seven-year bowl losing streaK, a a-vear wait for a national title and a string of three straight Orange Bowl losses. 'I dont feel any different or any more vindicated than when we played here last year," said Nebraska Coach i Tom Osborne. "I guess feei a uuie like sticking arounl.ajttle longer than usual But I'm still eettine to see my family and see this team play well, and that's all that matters." For Osborne, the winnineest active college coach, the national champion-shin was suDDosed to lift the monkey of his back after so many close calls. r. But he reiusea to accept mat change in perception of him and the Nebraska football program.

kev on mv back, not me." he said. "But if this lifts it off, then that's fine." Ouarterback Tommie Fraaer said Victory was for Osborne, for Ne- i braska and for all of the Cornhusker fans. "We cot eoine in the fourth Quarter, and we lived up to what our defense was giving us and we won," he said. Fraaer, who haon piayea since Sent 24 because of recurring blood clots in his leg, started the game but was replaced by Brook uerringer laie in the first quarter. Frazier had just thrown an interception at the Miami 3-yard line to end NU first scoring threat Berrineer.

who started seven of the last eight games, handed off to Lawrence Phillips for a 15-yard gain on his first But the drive was Please turn to: Orange, Page 14 Scoring, Team Stats Nebraska 24, Miami, Fla. 17 Miami 10 0 7 0 17 Nebraska 0 7 2 15 24 Miami FG Dane Prewitt 44 Miami Trent Jones 35 pass from Frank Costa (Prewitt kick) NU Manx unman is pass irom Brook Berringer (Tom Sieter kick) Miami Jonathan Harris 44 pass from Costa (Prewitt kick) mm SafRtu Cnsta sacked bv Dwayne Harris in end zone 7 NU Cory scniesinger ia run (trie ford pass from Tommie Frazier) NU Schlesinger 14 run (bieier kick) A i Miami NU First downs 14 20 Rushes-vards 28-29 46-199' Passing yards 248 .106 Total yaras oua Passing 18-35-1 11-20-2 Return yards -6 17 Punts 7-397 Fumbles-lost 2-0 z-i L' Penalties-yards 11-92 3-20 I ime oi possession ti Tnifd-down conversions 3-13 3-13 FourtlKlcwnccflversions 0-1 1-1 Huskers have time on their side Page 14 in Nebraska defense bounces back Page 14 Broadcasters found lacking Page 16 Previous unbeaten seasons Year ,1690 1902 1903 1913 1914 ,1915 1970' 197f L. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0: 7 -r 8 t1 13 nitlonil champion This unbeaten season Aug. 25 Nebraska 31 West Virginia 0 Sept. 8 Nebraska 42.

Texas Tech 1 6 Sept. 1T Nebraska 49. UCLA 21 Sept. 24 Nebraska 70. Pacific 21 Oct.

1 Nebraska 42, Wyoming 32 Oct 5 Nebraska 32. Oklahoma State 3 Oct 15 Nebraska 17, Kansas State 6 Oct 22 Nebraska 42. Missouri 7 Oct. 29 Nebraska 24, Colorado 7 Nov. 5 Nebraska 45.

Kansas 17 Nov. 12 Nebraska 28. Iowa State 12 Nov. 25 Nebraska 1 3, Oklahoma 3 Sunday Nebraska 24. Mami, Fla.

17 Nebraska at Orange Bowls Jan. 1. 1955 Duke 34, Nebraska 7 Nebraska 13. Auburn 7 Jan. 1,1964 Jan.

1, IBM Jan. 1, 1971 Statu Alabama 39. Nebraska 28 Nebraska 17, Louisiana Jan. 1,1972 -r Jan. 1,1873 Jan.

1.1979 Nebraska 38. Alabama 8 Nebraska 40. Notre Dame 6 nhlahnma 31 Klahraska 24 Jan. 1, 1982 Qemson 22. Nebraska 1 5 Jan.

1, 19N State 20 Jan.2,1984-Jan. 2, 1989 Jan. 1. 1892 Nebraska 21, Louisiana Miami 31. Nebraska 30 Miami 23.

Nebraska 3 Miami 22. Nebraska 0 Jan. 1, 1993 -14 Jan. 1,1994 is Florida State 27, Nebraska Florida State 18. Nebraska Jan.

1,1995 Nebraska 24. Miami. Fla: 17 title, i MIAMI The burden of 22 seasons and seven consecutive bowl game losses was lifted from Tom Osborne's shoulders Sunday night. And of all places, it was lifted in the Orange Bowl stadium, in the 61st Orange Bowl Classic. Actually, it wasn't so much lifted as dissipated in the warm Miami night, soaked with the oppressive sounds of Miami fans who watched their third-ranked Hurricanes fall 24-17.

Probably, they watched in disbelief, born of so many victories on that prescription turf. After nearly 52 minutes, they had been convinced of their team's invincibility. With 8: 11 remaining, and Miami leading 17-9. it appeared the game was justification for the axiom: The bigger they are, the harder they fall. College football is about speed, and so were the Hurricanes.

But they couldn't run away from a similarly inescapable fact: It's better to be big and fast than simply fast. Not that Nebraska would have won a track meet against Miami But the Comhuskers were fast enough. And they were superior in strength and conditioning. The key to success was staying close enough to be in a position to win, to reap the benefits of relentless pounding. Miami's defense was as good, and as fast, as advertised.

But the Hurricanes were weary under Nebraska's ground-oriented onslaught. Each time Nebraska fullback Cory; Schlesinger ran for touchdowns in the fourth quarter, he left Miami defenders strewn behind him. Late in the third quarter, Warren Sapp, the Hurricanes' remarkable -defensive tackle, had to go to the sideline and kneel down to catch his breath before returning for the end. Osborne's commitment to the option, and junior quarterback Tommie Frazier, was vindicated during the game's final 8 minutes. -Until then, however, it appeared Osborne would be second-guessed, maybe forever, about decisions that seemed destined to produce an eighth consecutive bowl loss and another national championship near-miss.

Until Schlesinger ran 14 yards to cap a seven-play, 58-yard touchdown drive kept alive by two third-down option runs by Frazier, it appeared Osborne might be a modern Sisyphus, the mythological figure doomed to push a boulder up a hill only to see it roll back down as it reached the summit ,1 Three times before, Osborne- coached teams nearly reached the top before watching in frustration as the national title rolled from their grasp. In tbfil9S2 Orange Bowl, and lay claim to the national Nebraska coaches in bowls Coach Mc. Jones Bill Glasslord Bob Oevaney Tom Osborne 0 0 6 9 15 Pet 1 1 3 13 15 .000 .000 .667 .409 .455 Pet .792 .750 .833 .731 .750 .750 .833 .833 .750 .923 .923 .833 .750 .833 .833 ,846 1 .833 .750 .864 Total Tom Osborne's record Vear 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 Total 8 9' 10 9 9 9 10 10 9 12 12 10" 9 10 10 11 10 9 9 9 11 '-13 219 2 3 2 3 3. 3 2 '2 3 1 1 2 3 2 2 2 2 3 1 a 1 47 1 0 ,0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A 0 0 i -750 0 .917 0 1000 3 .820 Oranoe Bowls won by national champions 1958 Oklahoma 20, Maryland 6 -'i 1966 Alabama 39, Nebraska 28 1971 Nebraska 17, Louisiana State 12 1972 Nebraska 38. Alabama 6 1978 Oklahoma 14, Michigan 6 1982 Oemson 22, Nebraska 15 1984 Miami, Fla.

31, Nebraska 30 1966 Oklahoma 25. Perm State 22 1986 Miami. Fla. 20. Oklahoma 14 1991 Colorado 10.

Notre Dame 9 1 1992 Miami. Fla. 22. Nebraska 0 1994 FkxidaState18.Nebraska16. i 1995 Nebraska 24, Miami, Fla.

17 Lincoln Journal-Star Clemson reached the heights. In the 1984 game, it was Miami for the first of four times. And last year, by the -scant difference of a missed field goal, Florida State got there. Sunday night, however, the Comhuskers made it. Less than two months shy of his 58th birthday, after more than 200 coaching victories, -Osborne had a national title.

That championship must be I certified by those who vote in the polls, of course, media representatives in the case of the Associated Press poll and coaches in the case of the USA TodayCNN polL They must wait until Penn State -1 has made one last pitch for national title consideration, against Oregon in Rose Bowl game Monday. The Nittany Lions could finish 12-0 and be No. 2. an injustice built into NCAA Division I-A football But Penn State was voted a national title for the 1982 season, even though its argument for such a distinction was no better, if as good, as Nebraska's. The voting should be a formality, regardless of what the Nittany Lions might do to Oregon.

And with such a vote, the Comhuskers will have erased the frustration not only of 1982 but also of 1983. when everyone imagined that Osborne would get the. championship he got Sunday night Appropriately, perhaps, 'y Schlesinger's two fourth-quarter touchdowns came in the east end I. zone of the Orange Bowl stadium, which will no longer be home to the Orange Bowl Classic after one more. It was in the east end zone that Turner Gill's two-point conversion pass was deflected and fell incomplete at the end of the 31-30 toss to Miami on Jan.

2, 1981 i And it was toward the east goalposts that Byron Bennett attempted to win last year's Orange Bowl against Florida State with a field goal attempt that sailed wide. Miami had four snaps in the shadow of those goalposts to wrest victory from defeat The second and third ended in quarterback sacks, the fourth an interception. It was a fitting finish. Nebraska had been preparing a defense for just such an occasion for more than a decade. Perfection, 13-0.

-J No. 1, at last. n. r'i. I i j1 vi 0 I I Wtf" With the Orange Bowl victory Sunday, Tom Osborne (right) has joined predecessor Bob Devaney (left) as the only Nebraska football coaches to win national titles.

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