Miami holds edge over Nebraska in title games

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Posted 2:50PM on Thursday, January 3, 2002

PASADENA, Calif. - Mention Miami-Nebraska football games, and the Wayback Machine takes us to Jan. 2, 1984, the Orange Bowl, 48 seconds left, Hurricanes ahead 31-30, Huskers going for two. "When the guy went in motion, it looked like we had a shot, and we did," Nebraska coach Frank Solich recalls of the scene he saw from the assistants' box that day. But at the last instant, Miami safety Kenny Calhoun steps in front of running back Jeff Smith in the end zone and knocks away Turner Gill's pass. Game over. Miami wins its first national championship with the huge upset over the top-ranked Huskers. Losing coach Tom Osborne is praised for his gutsy decision, even an easier extra-point kick for a tie would have given him a title. Gill, now Solich's quarterbacks coach, said Osborne asked the players at the start of the '83 season what they wanted to do if a big game came down to a 2-point conversion. "We all said, `Hey, we want to be 13-0,"' Gill said. "I was glad we did go for two points." On Thursday night in the Rose Bowl, the Huskers and Hurricanes renewed their rivalry, with a national title on the line again. This time, No. 1 Miami was favored. Times sure have changed, and the Nebraska-Miami series is a big reason why. Since the '84 Orange Bowl, considered one of the greatest college games ever played, Miami and Nebraska met in three other OBs, twice with the national title at stake. The Hurricanes beat the Huskers 23-3 in the '89 Orange Bowl, then won their third national crown with a 22-0 win in the '92 OB. Nebraska finally broke through to give Osborne his first title in 1994, beating Miami 24-17 in the '95 Orange Bowl. Rob Chudzinski, Miami's offensive coordinator, was the Canes' tight end in the '91 game, and a graduate assistant for the '95 game. He remembers. "Boy was I sore after the game," he said. "Our defense played great. I thought it was great to play a team like Nebraska, one with a great tradition and such a great program." The '92 game was a benchmark for the Cornhuskers, who had just been shut out for the first time since 1973, a span of 221 games. Miami, with two interceptions, two fumble recoveries and five sacks, held the Huskers' powerful running game to 82 yards, initiating a rare change in Nebraska's coaching philosophy. In 1993, Nebraska switched from their 5-2 alignment that relied on big interior linemen and defensive backs playing zone to make up for a lack of speed. The Huskers went to a 4-3, recruiting speedy defensive backs for man-to-man coverage. They moved safeties to linebacker to cover tight ends and running backs on pass routes, and linebackers stepped up to the line with the tackles. The changes paid off when the Huskers and Hurricanes met again. Nebraska won 24-17 and sacked quarterback Frank Costa four times, once for a safety. The breakthrough ended Nebraska's seven-bowl losing streak from 1987-93, six of the losses coming against Florida State or Miami. "We tried to learn from our losses to the Florida teams. We learned you better have speed on your football team if you want to win big games," Solich said. "We went to a concept where we could play the passing game better, get an extra linebacker on the field, and not go with the prototype 6-foot-3, 250-pound guy but use linebackers like Miami, ones with great speed." Chudzinski agrees, and credits former Miami coach Jimmy Johnson's brand of aggressive play for initiating defensive change around the country. Johnson coached the 'Canes from 1984-88. "That was a landmark game for them," Chudzinski said of the shutout. "That's when they, just like a lot of other teams, finally switched defenses. When they beat us, they ran a defense similar to the one they have now. They load up and try to get to the quarterback. They can fly at every position." Before the series of Orange Bowl meetings, the teams also met in the 1961 Gotham Bowl. Solich was a freshman at Nebraska. "I was in the weight room," he said. "I felt pretty good when I saw the game on TV. They were playing in a snowstorm. It was a tough day to play football but I thought Nebraska did a great job playing the type of football they needed to play to win the game." The Huskers won in an upset, 36-34, in a game played at Yankee Stadium before a shivering crowd of 6,166. Art Kehoe, Miami's offensive line coach, has been on the Hurricanes staff for all the Orange Bowls against Nebraska. Before the Rose Bowl, Kehoe hoped his team was ready. "We've had a few tussles, Nebraska and us," Kehoe said. "And they're real physical and real good. I told our kids, `Hey, you're in for a scrap here."'