The 2005 Alamo 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 ...

held on December 28, 2005 at the

Alamodome The Alamodome is a 64,000-seat domed indoor multi-purpose stadium in San Antonio, Texas. It is located on the southeastern fringe of downtown San Antonio. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, having been constructed at a cost of $186 milli ...

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. It was the 13th

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and the secon ...

. 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 ...

, second-place finishers in 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 ...

's North Division, defeated the Michigan Wolverines, third-placed finishers in the

Big Ten Conference 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 ...

. This matchup was notable in that it featured the two schools that shared the 1997

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 ...

. At the time, Michigan and Nebraska were two of only five schools in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

history with 800 or more victories.

Game summary

Nebraska started the scoring with a 52-yard touchdown pass from

Zac Taylor Zachary William Taylor (born May 10, 1983) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). Beginning his NFL career as an offensive assistant, he was the quarterbacks coach f ...

to wide receiver Terrence Nunn. Michigan tied it at 7–7 on a 13-yard pass from

Chad Henne Chad Steven Henne (; born July 2, 1985) is an American football quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Michigan. While there, Henne became only the second true freshman st ...

to tight end Tyler Ecker. In the second quarter, Henne hooked up with Mike Massey for a 16-yard touchdown pass, giving Michigan a 14–7 lead. Taylor found wide receiver Nate Swift for a 14-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter, knotting the score at 14–14 going into the half. In the third quarter, kicker Jordan Congdon gave Nebraska a 17–14 lead with a 20-yard field goal. Henne later found wide receiver Mario Manningham for a 21-yard touchdown and Michigan reclaimed the lead, 21–17. Henne led off the scoring in the fourth quarter with a rushing touchdown, extending Michigan's lead to 28–17. Running back

Cory Ross Cory Ross (born September 22, 1982) is a former American football, Canadian football and indoor football running back. He is now the head coach of the Quad City Steamwheelers of the Indoor Football League (IFL). He most recently played for the E ...

then scored on a 31-yard touchdown scamper for Nebraska. Taylor found Todd Peterson for the ensuing two-point conversion, narrowing Michigan's lead to 28–25. With 4:29 left in the game, Taylor and Nunn hooked up again for a 13-yard go-ahead touchdown to give Nebraska a 32–28 lead.

Final play

Michigan's last-ditch attempt to win the game came on a seven-lateral scramble somewhat reminiscent of the famous Cal-Stanford band play. Henne completed a pass across the middle of the field to

Jason Avant Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He w ...

, who caught the ball at midfield and immediately lateraled to Steve Breaston. Breaston threw the ball backwards to Mike Hart, who lateraled back to Avant. Avant then threw the ball across the entire width of the field, where it was caught by Manningham as he was being tackled. Manningham attempted another backward pass, which hit the ground and bounced two or three times off the hands of two Nebraska defenders, before being picked up by Michigan Center Mark Bihl, who lateraled to Tyler Ecker. Because the ball had hit the ground, several members of both teams and the media, believing the play was dead, rushed onto the field while Ecker ran downfield. Controversially, several of the officials began to leave the field, unaware that the play was still occurring. Nebraska players also gave their coach the Gatorade dunk before the play was over, reminiscent of the

Bluegrass Miracle The Bluegrass Miracle was a 74-yard game-winning touchdown pass by the No. 16 LSU Tigers with no time left on the clock against the Kentucky Wildcats on November 9, 2002 at Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky. The ball was tipped by a Ke ...

. Ecker dodged several players and coaches and returned the ball approximately 60 yards to the Nebraska 16-yard line, at which point Cornhusker cornerback

Zackary Bowman Zackary Bowman (born November 18, 1984) is a retired American football cornerback. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at Nebraska and New Mexico Military Institute. He has a ...

knocked him out of bounds after time had expired ending the game.

Scoring summary

First quarter

* Nebraska - Terrence Nunn, 52-yard pass from

(Jordan Condon kick) * Michigan - Tyler Ecker, 13-yard pass from

(

Garrett Rivas Garrett Rivas (born June 1, 1985) is a former American football kicker who played in af2 and the Arena Football League (AFL). He played college football at Michigan where he held the former school records for career scoring, field goals and poi ...

kick)

Second quarter

* Michigan - Mike Massey, 16-yard pass from Chad Henne (Garrett Rivas kick) * Nebraska - Nate Swift, 14-yard pass from Zac Taylor (Jordan Condon kick)

Third quarter

* Nebraska - Jordan Condon, 20-yard field goal * Michigan - Mario Manningham, 21-yard pass from Chad Henne (Garrett Rivas kick)

Fourth quarter

* Michigan - Chad Henne, 7-yard run (Garrett Rivas kick) * Nebraska -

, 31-yard run (Todd Peterson pass from Zac Taylor) * Nebraska - Terrence Nunn, 13-yard pass from Zac Taylor (Jordan Condon kick)

References

External links

ESPN game summary

{{Nebraska Cornhuskers bowl game navbox

Alamo Bowl Michigan Wolverines football bowl games Nebraska Cornhuskers football bowl games