The 1995 Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1995, as the 61st edition of the Orange Bowl and the national championship game for the 1994 season. It featured 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 Big Eight and the

Miami Hurricanes The Miami Hurricanes (known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes) are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic A ...

of the

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

. The game was a rematch of the historic

1984 Orange Bowl The 1984 Orange Bowl was the 50th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on Monday, January 2. Part of the 1983–84 bowl game season, it matched the undefeated and top-ranked Nebraska Cornhus ...

. As of 2020, the 1995 Orange Bowl holds the record for Orange Bowl attendance at 81,753. Although this was the

Bowl Coalition The College Football Bowl Coalition was formed through an agreement among Division I-A college football bowl games and conferences for the purpose of forcing a national championship game between the top two teams and to provide quality bowl game ...

's National Championship Game, it was a match-up of the first and third-ranked teams in the country, as second-ranked Penn State was obligated to play in the 1995 Rose Bowl as the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

champion.

Teams

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Nebraska came into the game with a 12–0 record and No. 1 ranking in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

Miami Hurricanes

Miami entered the game with 10–1 record and had the AP's No. 3 ranking.

Game summary

Miami placekicker Dane Prewitt scored the first points of the game with a 44-yard field goal to open up a 3–0 Miami lead. Miami quarterback

Frank Costa Frank Aloysius Costa (3 February 1938 – 2 May 2021) was an Australian businessman. Costa had been a prominent figure in the Geelong region for more than four decades after inheriting Costa Group, the family's produce business, in the late 1 ...

fired a 35-yard touchdown pass to Trent Jones for a 10–0 Miami lead. Nebraska quarterback Brook Berringer threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to tight end Mark Gilman before halftime, to close the deficit to 10–7. In the third quarter, Costa threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Jonathan Harris, to open a 17–7 lead. Nebraska outside linebacker Dwayne Harris sacked Costa in the end zone for a

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

before the end of the third quarter, and Miami led 17–9. Fullback

Cory Schlesinger Cory Michael Schlesinger (born June 23, 1972) is a former American football fullback of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the sixth round of the 1995 NFL Draft. He played college football at Nebraska. Early y ...

scored on a 15-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to trim the lead to 17–15.

Tommie Frazier Tommie James Frazier Jr. (born July 16, 1974) is an American former football player and coach who played quarterback for the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Frazier led his team to consecutive national championships in 1994 and 1995, and is ...

then found tight end Eric Alford in the back of the end zone to tie the game, 17–17. A 14-yard touchdown run by Schlesinger gave Nebraska a 24–17 lead, and the defense held on to win the national championship.

Scoring summary

Aftermath

Nebraska finished the season with a 13–0 record, and won the national championship (Tom Osborne's first title as a head coach and third overall). Miami finished the season ranked sixth, with a 10–2 record. It was Nebraska's first bowl win since the

1987 Sugar Bowl The 1987 Sugar Bowl was the 53rd edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday, January 1. Part of the 1986–87 bowl game season, it featured the fifth-ranked LSU Tigers ...

. Second-ranked and also undefeated Penn State won its bowl game (the 1995 Rose Bowl), which led to much controversy after only Nebraska was crowned national champions. It was not until the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was formed in 1998 that the

and Pac-10 would allow their champions to compete in national championship games outside the Rose Bowl Game. Less than two weeks after the game,

Dennis Erickson Dennis Brian Erickson (born March 24, 1947) is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football league. He was also the head coach at the University of Idaho ...

departed the Hurricanes to take the head coaching position with the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

's Seattle Seahawks. Miami hired

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divi ...

defensive coordinator

Butch Davis Paul Hilton "Butch" Davis Jr. (born November 17, 1951) is an American football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at Florida International University. After graduating from the University of Arkansas, he became an assistant co ...

as Erickson's successor.

References

{{1994–95 NCAA Division I championships navbox

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 ...

Orange Bowl Miami Hurricanes football bowl games Nebraska Cornhuskers football bowl games Bowl Coalition January 1995 sports events in the United States 1995 in sports in Florida