Thanks to NBCSN, I’m gonna get the chance to relive one of the greatest college football games I’ve ever watched. With an icon from my home state serving as a lead actor in the script for good measure.
Wednesday night on NBCSN, it was classic Notre Dame college football games that were front and center on the network. Thursday night, it was a trio of classic Orange Bowls. Friday night? It’s the Orange Bowl. And a couple of Fiesta Bowls as the enticing appetizers.
But first, the Orange Bowl.
The 50th edition of the game in January of 1984 featured once-beaten and top-ranked Nebraska vs. one-loss and fifth-ranked Miami. On the Hurricanes’ home turf. The mighty Cornhuskers, though, entered the game as 11-point favorites over the upstart ‘Canes, who had never won a national championship.
The keyword in that last sentence, of course, is “had.”
Trailing 31-17 entering the fourth quarter, Nebraska scored a touchdown with less than a minute left to pull within 31-30. With a tie almost guaranteeing a national championship, Tom Osborne eschewed the point-after attempt. In going for the win with a two-point try, Osborne, for better or worse, etched the game’s place in college football history.
With the win, Miami claimed its first national championship. And Nebraska was denied its first since 1971.
As for the preambles to that iconic Orange Bowl, which will actually air at 12:30 a.m. ET Saturday morning? No. 1 Notre Dame-No. 3 West Virginia in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl (7 p.m. ET). Then, No. 2 Penn State-No. 1 Miami in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl. Or, when “Vinny Intercepteverde” moniker was born.
Again, you can catch these classics on NBCSN on your cable/satellite TV provider. Or, stream them HERE as well.
One final thought: Put Howard Schellenberger in the Hall already. Change your damn rules, do whatever. Just get it right and undo an injustice, College Football Hall of Fame.
