The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 36

CA SATURDAY JANUARY 2 1993 Uv THE MIAMI HERALD FLORIDA STATE 27 HEBRflSKfl 14 Osborne: Huskers had shot IHUSKERStGROUNDEDXAMEl Nebraska averaged 3282 rushing yards per game in the regular season but rushed for only 144 yards on 34 carries against FSU in the Orange Bowl Huskers In regular season Opponent No-Yd Remit Utah 47-399 49-22 Middle Tenn 65-490' W48-7 Washington 40-176 29-14 Arizona State 64-3 19 45-24 press box in the second quarter kind of inexcusable in a bowl of this nature not to be able to get your headphones Osborne said the Big Eight we have a rule where if one team have headphones the other side takes theirs off I guess not that way down here But that was the only thing negative about the Having lost to three of the best Florida State teams put Osborne in a position to compare them upon request How good are this Seminoles? think defensively better than anybody played and they have some great athletes on he said one of the better teams in the nation This is the best Florida State snafus in loss petitive Not that Osborne had any doubts about that "I think the perception going into the game by people and some of the media was that we have the athletes to be Osborne said again be the perception coming out It seem that way looking at the game from the On the sidelines Nebraska coaches were in a dither from early on because their headphones working Complaints about the malfunctioning headphones began coming from the Cornhusker coaches in the Coach cites 3 Comhuskers At least not the way they did in the 1990 Fiesta Bowl (41-17) and not the way UM did in last Orange Bowl (22-0) and the 1989 Orange Bowl (23-3) For Osborne it was just three snafus that prevented the Comhuskers from being in a position to win "We missed a couple of field goals and about gave them one touchdown a lost fumble on the Nebraska two-yard Osborne said those things happen a ball game Our effort was good enough to win Our execution was not But we have the quality of athletes good enough to play in this com- Oklahoma State Missouri Colorado Kansas Iowa State Oklahoma Kansas State 51-366 55-0 64-335 34-24 77-373 52-7 62-351 49-7 39-192 19-10 60-317 W33-9 59-292 38-24 JOSE K3LE8IA8 Miami Herald RARE HIGHLIGHT: Corey Dixon scores first TD on 41-yard pass Rushing total 618-3610 Huskers bemoan mistakes BAD MOVE FOR HUSKERS By DAVID NEAL Herald Sports Writer It unfamiliar to hear Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne trying to explain a bowl loss especially to a Florida school i five of the last six Nebraska bowl games have been losses to Florida State or the University of Miami What was unfamiliar was Osborne feeling he was in a position to say "We played well enough to The Federal Express Orange final score 27-14 the margin of defeat the nation has come to expect from Nebraska in bowl games Despite the Seminoles controlling the game right out of the gate and taking leads of 20-0 and 27-7 they never really put away the Frazier tries to pitch to running back Derek Brown Nebraska quarterback Tommie GREAT BREAK Bowden looking out for No 1 He dwelling on loss to Miami By MIKE PHILLIPS Herald Sports Writer Moments after Florida State wiped up Nebraska 27-14 in the Federal Express Orange Bowl someone asked FSU quarterback Charlie Ward if he thought the Seminoles were the No 1 team in the nation Before Ward could speak FSU Coach Bobby Bowden cupped his mouth and whispered: Tell Go ahead and tell Charlie I say it but you go ahead and tell And once again Bowden brought the house down with just the right play (on words) at just the right time FSU (11-1) ranked third in the Associated Press poll before Alabama beat No l-ranked Miami will no doubt be No 2 again soooo good at being No said Bowden who can joke about never winning a national title was raised on the poor side of he said spoiled enough to have to be No 1 No 2 is good enough for Of course it Without the 19-16 loss to UM FSU might have won the national title Friday let it gnaw at said Bowden our fault we lost to to Miami It quit gnawing at me after three weeks It was our fault we beat How about a playoff? always been against Bowden said (the coalition) worked good this year But if we have another flaw like the Cotton Bowl I see them going to a playoff not saying going to a playoff just saying if something like that happens again I bet they go to The Cotton Bowl chose Notre Dame (No 5) instead of third-ranked FSU to play No 4 Texas Bowden was surprised when he heard Alabama was beating UM heard that score and 1 thought how are they scoring that many points on Bowden said Bowden said the only thing that bothered him about this OB victory was the rain had a tremendous advantage on them playing in the heat and playing in the Orange Bowl We had good hot weather Our defense did a great job except for the big plays "I thought we had the game under control and then let it get It was pure Bowden in the first quarter when he called a reverse from his own nine Tamarick Vanover would have scored a 91 -yard TD on the play but he stepped put of bounds at the FSU 33 he step out of Bowden asked afterward see him step And it was first Orange Bowl victory Remember he lost to Oklahoma in 1980 (24-7) and in 1981 (18-17) The last time he won a game in the Orange Bowl was in 1 984 is the only bowl played in that we Bowden said wanted this one There is still one more out there we got just try again Honest it gnaw at basketball FOR SEMINOLES QB: one of our better By SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN Herald Sports Writer Nebraska quarterback mie Frazier played like a true i freshman Friday in the Federal Express Orange Bowl Frazier is a true freshman but he never played like one before And the Comhuskers OFF- ense the one that led the nation 1 in rushing for the eighth time in 13 years? Definitely off Calvin Jones the sophomore I-back who 'led the Big Eight Conference with 1210 yards 1247 a game c' finished against FSU with 76 yards on 19 carries No 2 I-back Derek Brown who gained 1011 yards this season 1 1 59 a game had 13 yards on four carries and reinjured his separated right shoulder face it nobody but the llth-ranked Comhuskers pre-dieted a Nebraska victory against third-ranked Florida State but their 27-14 loss Friday still stung sixth consecutive bowl loss five of those against i either Florida State or Miami i perpetuated the bowl-V 'week theme: win the big one j- thought we could do any- thing we wanted to in the begin-P said Frazier 18 whose opening-half jitters threw the Nebraska offense out of sync i Frazier finished 10 for 21 with 2 two interceptions and 146 yards total An errant second-quarter pitch to running back Brown resulted in a Nebraska turnover and subsequent Seminoles down The Huskers also missed field-r goal attempts of 23 and 39 yards both wide left I couple of mental mistakes couple of missed field goals It was not one of our or my better said Frazier fourth-leading rusher I this season Friday he carried five times for minus-14 yards I was trying to do too much I thought I could get the ball to Derek Brown but it got away 1 feel it right now This makes J- it six in a row and everyone is saying we can win the little ones but not the big ones Coach Osborne get a bad rap not him that went out and I played tonight It was Said Jones: played a great FSU tonight On occasion we shot ourselves in the foot We missed two field goals and bled right on our own goal line We were not executing in the first half and they got a big enough lead There was a bright spot in offense Junior split end Corey Dixon finished with five receptions for 123 yards and one touchdown and one carry for 35 yards feel Dixon said down But I do know we hung in there despite a lot of mistakes We beat ourselves up front and at the line of scrimmage It was just one of those JOSE IQLESIAS Miami Herald Staff JOSE IQLESIAS Miami Herald Staff Seminoles scored three plays to think of But pitch gets away and is recovered by Dan Footman at two-yard line The later on a four-yard pass from Charlie Ward to Kez McCorvey Ward gets early Heisman mention prefers about receiver Tamarick chances guy here has a very good Bowden said of Ward If not for a rocky couple of games to open the season Ward would have been a front-runner for the Heisman this season He threw for 2834 yards including 24 touchdowns and ran for 552 yards including six touchdowns this season including the Orange Bowl The shotgun formation that FSU used the last half of the season gave sions as Ward would either scramble for the first down or avoid being sacked long enough for a receiver to get open say enough about FSU Coach Bobby Bowden said only as a player runner thrower or leader The other guys on this team have the utmost respect for him He continually bailed us out It was Bowden who started the Heisman line of questioning when he pointed to Ward after a reporter asked Ward not only more time to throw but a head start on outrunning defenders Asked what he thought about his standing in the national-championship picture he momentarily dodged it then went for the jugular we play Miami we would be he said we are not going to take Miami off our schedule like Florida did were three points away from the national By VITTORIO TAFUR Herald Writer Like everything else Friday night in 1 the Orange Bowl Florida State quarter- back Charlie Ward sized up any ques- tions about his Heisman Trophy chances for next year The MVP of the Federal Express Orange Bowl Classic had thrown for 1 8 7 yards including two touchdowns and had run for 23 yards in the 27-14 walk-through victory over Nebraska And all he wanted to talk about was basketball finished sixth in the Heisman voting and Marshall Faulk was second so he is the said Ward a junior am just looking forward to playing basketball Ward who expects to make his basketball debut as a guard for FSU next Wednesday against Virginia repeatedly made timely plays to keep the game from ever being close The Seminoles were eight for 16 on third-down conver I 14 ftilft 4ft 1.