The 1991 Florida Citrus Bowl was a

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 ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

played after the

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

regular season, with

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

implications. Played on January 1 in

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, the 45th edition of the Citrus Bowl featured the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Rambl ...

of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

and the

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 Georgia Tech came into the game with a record and #2

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, whereas Nebraska was at 9–2 with a #13 UPI coaches' poll ranking. After their win, Georgia Tech climbed to first in the

Coaches' Poll The Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. The football version of the poll has been known officially ...

, enabling the Yellow Jackets to claim their fourth

, shared

Background

ACC Champion Georgia Tech came into the Citrus Bowl as Division I-A's only undefeated team at and ranked second in both major polls behind

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. The Yellow Jackets had begun the 1990 season unranked, but worked their way up the polls over the course of the year, helped greatly by a 41–38 win over then-#1

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

on November 3. Their one blemish was a 13–13 tie at unranked

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on October 20. A potentially controversial situation could result in the polls if Georgia Tech could win the Citrus Bowl and finish the year undefeated, pending the outcome of the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

to be played later that night between #5 Notre Dame The Nebraska Cornhuskers were 9–2 and ranked #13 in the Coaches' poll. Though they had been in the top ten of both polls for most of the season, and as high as #3 with three games to go, two losses in their last three games plummeted them to thirteenth (and nineteenth in the AP poll). Nebraska came into the Citrus Bowl as a slight despite their inferior record and ranking.

Game recap

Shawn Jones, Georgia Tech's sophomore quarterback, rushed for 46 yards on the fourth play of the game which set up the first touchdown. The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a during the first half, but Nebraska responded with two touchdowns, narrowing the deficit GT was forced to punt after Nebraska's second touch down. However, Nebraska's punt returner fumbled the ball with Jay Martin of Georgia Tech recovering, which led to a 37-yard field goal by Scott Sisson and a halftime lead. GT coach

Bobby Ross Robert Joseph Ross (born December 23, 1936) is an American former football coach. He served as the head football coach at The Citadel (1973–1977), the University of Maryland, College Park (1982–1986), the Georgia Institute of Technology (1 ...

said after the game, "I thought the fumbled punt was the key to the game. That changed the momentum of the game...Here we were with what we thought was a comfortable lead, and they came back within a matter of a minute, ready to establish momentum. Even though we only got three points out of it, that was one of the big plays we capitalized on." After blocking a Nebraska field goal on the first possession of the second half, Georgia Tech drove for a touchdown to make the score Nebraska's final score of the game made it going into the 4th quarter. Georgia Tech's William Bell rushed for two fourth-quarter touchdowns to seal the win Jones completed 16 of 23 passes for 277 yards and two touchdowns, ran for one touchdown, and was selected the game's most valuable player. Georgia Tech also played well defensively: Nebraska averaged 330 rushing yards during the season, but Georgia Tech held the Cornhuskers to only 126 rushing yards during the game. The loss was Nebraska's fourth straight bowl loss, a streak which extended to

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; the Huskers slipped into a tie for 17th in the UPI coaches' poll and 24th in

Scoring

First quarter *Georgia Tech – Stefen Scotten 2 run ( Scott Sisson kick) 11:45 Second quarter *Georgia Tech – Emmett Merchant 22 pass from Shawn Jones (Sisson kick), 12:23 *Georgia Tech – William Bell 2 pass from Jones (Sisson kick), 7:50 *Nebraska –

Johnny Mitchell Johnny Mitchell Jr. (born January 20, 1971) is a former American football tight end in the National Football League for the New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints. He played college football at the University of Nebraska. Early ye ...

30 pass from Tom Haase (Gregg Barrios kick), 6:21 *Nebraska – Derek Brown 50 run (Barrios kick), 5:07 *Georgia Tech – Field goal, Sisson 37, 1:50 Third quarter *Georgia Tech – Jones 1 run (Sisson kick), 5:33 *Nebraska – William Washington 21 pass from Haase (Barrios kick), 0:30 Fourth quarter *Georgia Tech – Bell 6 run (Sisson kick), 9:43 *Georgia Tech – Bell 57 run (Sisson kick), 7:43 :

Statistics

: :

References

External links

*https://www.huskermax.com/games/1990/12georgiatech.html {{Nebraska Cornhuskers bowl game navbox

Florida Citrus Bowl Camping World Stadium is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, located in the West Lakes neighborhood of Downtown Orlando, west of new sports and entertainment facilities including the Amway Center, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, an ...

Citrus Bowl (game) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football bowl games Nebraska Cornhuskers football bowl games Tangerine Bowl Tangerine Bowl