The 1998 Orange Bowl was played on January 2, 1998, and served as the

Bowl Alliance The Bowl Alliance was an agreement among college football bowl games (specifically the Sugar, Orange, and Fiesta Bowls) for the purpose of trying to match the top two teams in a national championship game and to provide quality bowl game match ...

's designated national championship game for the 1997 season. This 64th edition 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 ...

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 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

and the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Collegi ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC).

Teams

While this was the designated national championship game, it featured the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams, per 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 ...

. The top-ranked Michigan Wolverines were not a participant, 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 was still obligated to appear in the Rose Bowl against the Pac-10 champion. The next season, the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was formed, allowing the Big Ten and Pac-10 champions to participate in bowl games other than the Rose Bowl.

Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee came into the game with an 11–1 record and the No. 3 ranking. The Volunteers had finished their regular season with a 10–1 record, their only loss having been to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Tennessee then defeated Auburn in the SEC title game on December 6.

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Nebraska came into the game with a 12–0 record and the No. 2 ranking. The Cornhuskers were 11–0 through the regular season, then defeated

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

in the Big 12 title game on December 6.

Game summary

Nebraska opened up a 7–0 lead after the first quarter and led 14–3 lead at halftime. The Huskers put the game away in the opening drive of the third quarter via their power running game, driving the opening kickoff for a touchdown to push the lead to 21–3. Nebraska's lead jumped to 28–3 after a touchdown run by quarterback

Scott Frost Scott Andrew Frost (born January 4, 1975) is a former American football coach and player. He was the head football coach at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 2018 to 2022. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Frost played college football as a qu ...

. Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning fired a 5-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver

Peerless Price Peerless LeCross Price (born October 27, 1976) is a former American football wide receiver who played nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Price played college football for the University of Tennessee Volunteers and was drafte ...

to cut the lead to 28–9. The ensuing two-point conversion failed and the lead remained at 19. Nebraska then drove 59 yards in three plays, before running back

Ahman Green Ahman Rashad Green (; born February 16, 1977) is a former American football running back who played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). Green played college football at Nebraska and was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the 3rd ro ...

scored on a 22-yard touchdown run to move the lead up to 35–9 going into the fourth quarter. Frost added a 9-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to put the game away for Nebraska at 42–9 with under five minutes remaining. Tennessee's back-up quarterback

Tee Martin Tamaurice Nigel "Tee" Martin (born July 25, 1978) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an assistant coach at th ...

threw a touchdown pass in the final minute, and the ensuing two-point conversion was successful, closing the final margin to 42–17. Nebraska's Green was named game MVP after rushing for an Orange Bowl record 201 yards and two touchdowns. In his final game at Tennessee, Manning completed 21-of-31 attempts for only 131 yards passing. The game was also the last for Nebraska head coach

Tom Osborne Thomas William Osborne (born February 23, 1937) is a former American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and politician from Nebraska. He served as head football coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers from 1973 to 1997 (25 season ...

, who had been at the helm since

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

(and with the Husker program since

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

Box score

: :

Aftermath

Nebraska was ranked second in the final

, behind the also-undefeated Rose Bowl champion Michigan Wolverines. The Cornhuskers did win a share of the

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or 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 best team, indi ...

, capturing the top spot 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 officiall ...

and receiving the

AFCA National Championship Trophy The Coaches' Trophy (officially known as the AFCA National Championship Trophy and popularly as "the crystal football") is the trophy awarded annually by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) to the NCAA Division I FBS college footbal ...

. Tennessee finished at 11–2; this was the last loss by the Volunteers until September 18,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

. Nebraska and Tennessee met exactly two years later, in the

2000 Fiesta Bowl The 2000 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, played on January 2, 2000, was the 29th edition of the Fiesta Bowl. The game was played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona between the Tennessee Volunteers (ranked #5 in the BCS) and the Nebraska Cornhuskers (r ...