The 1988 Sunkist Fiesta Bowl was the 17th edition of the

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

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played at

Sun Devil Stadium Sun Devil Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the southwestern United States, on the campus of Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. It is home to the ASU Sun Devils football team of the Pac-12 Conference. The s ...

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on Friday, January 1. Part of the 1987–88 bowl game season, it matched the third-ranked

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Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivis ...

and the #5

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

of the

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

. Favored Florida State rallied to win 31–28.

Teams

Florida State

Nebraska

Game summary

Kickoff was just after 11:30 a.m. and underdog Nebraska scored first on a three-yard run by senior halfback Keith Jones with 9:31 left in the first quarter. With 1:15 left in the opening stanza,

Dana Brinson Dana Brinson (born April 10, 1965) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the eighth round of the 1989 NFL Draft. He played ...

fielded a punt and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown and Nebraska Florida State got on the board in the second quarter when quarterback

Danny McManus Danny McManus (born June 17, 1965) is a former professional American football and Canadian football quarterback who passed for over 53,000 yards in seventeen seasons in the Canadian Football League and currently serves as the Assistant General Man ...

threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Herb Gainer. With under five minutes left in the first half, running back Dayne Williams scored from four yards out to tie the game at fourteen. With 44 seconds left in the half, McManus connected with Gainer on a 25-yard touchdown pass, marking their second hook-up of the game, and the Seminoles took a advantage into halftime. Just over three minutes into the third quarter, Nebraska quarterback

Steve Taylor Roland Stephen Taylor (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, music executive, film maker, assistant professor, and actor. A figure in what has come to be known as Christian alternative rock, Taylor enjoyed ...

notched the equalizer, rumbling in from two yards out to tie the game at 21. Florida State settled for a field goal for a lead. With forty seconds left in the quarter, running back Tyreese Knox scored on a four-yard run, giving Nebraska a In the fourth quarter, Nebraska got the ball back on its 26-yard line. Following a methodical drive, they managed to move all the way to the FSU two-yard line for a first and goal. Knox took the handoff, looking for a sure touchdown, when a defender forced a fumble at the goal line, recovered by Florida State. Ten plays later, Florida State had advanced to the Nebraska 15 and McManus threw a touchdown pass to Ronald Lewis for the clinching

Scoring

;First quarter: *Nebraska – Keith Jones 3-yard run (Chris Drennan kick), 9:31 *Nebraska –

52-yard punt return (Drennan kick), 1:15 ;Second quarter: *Florida State – Herb Gainer 10-yard pass from

(Derek Schmidt kick), 10:53 *Florida State – Dayne Williams 4-yard run (Schmidt kick), 3:48 *Florida State – Gainer 25-yard pass from McManus (Schmidt kick), 0:46 ;Third quarter: *Nebraska –

2-yard run (Drennan kick), 11:41 *Florida State – Schmidt 32-yard field goal, 7:49 *Nebraska – Tyreese Knox 4-yard run (Drennan kick), 0:40 ;Fourth quarter: *Florida State – Ronald Lewis 15-yard pass from McManus (Schmidt kick), 3:07 :

Statistics

: :

Aftermath

Florida State climbed to second in the final AP poll and Nebraska fell

References

External links

*http://huskerpedia.com/games/1987/12floridastate.html {{Nebraska Cornhuskers bowl game navbox

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been playe ...

Fiesta Bowl Florida State Seminoles football bowl games Nebraska Cornhuskers football bowl games January 1988 sports events in the United States 1988 in sports in Arizona