1994 Orange Bowl Classic - Florida State 18 - Nebraska 16

FSU Wins First National Title

Led by Charlie Ward, Florida State came from behind to defeat Nebraska 18-16 to secure the school's first-ever national crown.

In a game that had two climactic finishes, the Seminoles overcame the stigma of losing games by a field goal by winning one with their own. True freshman place kicker Scott Bentley's 22-yard field goal his fourth of the day, put Florida State on top with: 21 left to all but seal a victory.

The game seemed to end after Husker quarterback Tommie Frazier hit tight end Trumane Bell with a 29-yard pass as time expired. But officials concurred that: 01 had to be placed back on the clock and the field was cleared for another finish. This time it was Nebraska's 45-yard try that sailed wide left, giving FSU its ninth-straight bowl victory.

An Orange Bowl-record crowd of 81,536 witnessed just the 11th meeting ever between the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams and just the third ever in the Orange Bowl.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Florida
• State
• Seminoles
• Nebraska
• Corn
• Huskers
• Bobby
• Bowden
• Tom
• Osbourne
• Charlie
• Ward
• Scott
• Bentley
• Tommie
• Frazier
• Trumane
• Bell
• Orange
• Bowl
• Stadium
• National
• Championship

[Jagnole101]

@jcaudill6921 Obviously, except for that game, they did.

[jcaudill6921]

@Jagnole101 They lost to Notre Dame so they didn;t run through everyone unless you meant something else.

[jcaudill6921]

So who was the classless fan that used a bull horn when he went to kick the ball?

[GeorgiaKev]

@BadLeaders And on New Year's Day they (WVU) showed everyone why they were NOT invited to play Nebraska for the national championship. A 41-7 humiliation by a two-loss team. West Virginia just wasn't that good. If the Mountaineers were in the same league as Florida State, they would have beaten Va Tech and Louisville by more than one or two points and beaten Miami by a more than a field goal. FSU beat Florida by 12 points IN THE SWAMP while West Virginia lost to the same team by 34 points.

[GeorgiaKev]

@BadLeaders We all saw what happened when that "unbeaten" team was humiliated by a two-loss team in the Sugar Bowl. WVA had every reason to be fired up in that game because had they won, they could have laid a very serious claim to the national championship especially if FSU beat Nebraska that evening (WVA would have been the only undefeated team left). Instead they got a 41-7 thrashing from Florida. To quote Don Nehlen after the game "We got big-time whipped, no question about that."

[BadLeaders]

@GeorgiaKev Also, how in the fuck can anyone justify screwing a team that won all of their games and even beat the team {Boston College} that had beaten ND, who had SMASHED FSU if it wasn't for a late and lucky TD by FSU to make the final score look closer than it actually was? That was total bullshit!!!

[BadLeaders]

@GeorgiaKev I don't know what world you are from, but the pollsters were bound and determined to give ole Bobby a gift that year. WVU got screwed, but I think Nebraska would have beaten them even if they had gotten referee help like FSU did. FSU was too good of a team to beat when they get referee help too.

Florida did whip on WVU, but they also were way down emotionally after getting fucked, and they did get fucked by the pollsters. They did all they could to EARN a trip to play NU.

[BadLeaders]

@GeorgiaKev  You're wrong, Nebraska MADE them look like they played badly, and the FSU refs sure helped ole Bobby Bowden, didn't they?

[GeorgiaKev]

Florida State played the worst they could have played, and Nebraska played the absolute best they could have played, and Florida State still won. My heart did bleed for Nebraska and Tommie Frazier, and I was delighted when they won the national championship the very next year.

[GeorgiaKev]

@BluntFella WVA was not "screwed" by the pollsters. Look at the teams WVA played that year and compare it to Florida State's schedule. And the Mountaineers were hardly emotionally wiped out going into the Sugar Bowl. They knew that a win against Florida would likely give them a share of the nat'l title. WVA lost to Florida because they finally had to play a powerful team and as Nehlen said, "we got whipped." Afterwards, only 35 people greeted the WVA team at the Morgantown airport.