25 best college football bowl games in history

4. Miami vs. Nebraska, 1984 Orange Bowl

Nebraska could have tied the 1984 Orange Bowl against Miami with an extra point to likely win a national title, but Cornhuskers coach Tom Osborne had other ideas.

Having fallen just short the year before, the Cornhuskers looked to be in good shape for the first championship under Osborne with a dominant 12-0 record that included several blowouts. Nebraska’s offense averaged a stunning 50.3 points per game, as Mike Rozier won the Heisman with 2,148 yards and receiver Irving Fryar went first overall in the NFL draft following a 1,000 yard season.

Miami wasn’t quite a perennial powerhouse yet, but went 11-1 in the final season of the Howard Schnellenberger era to earn a shot at its first title. The No. 5 Hurricanes shook off an opening week blowout loss to Florida with eleven straight wins behind one of the best defenses in the country.

Early on, the Hurricanes didn’t look like a double-digit underdog, as freshman quarterback Bernie Kosar led them to a 17-0 lead in the first. Nebraska battled back to tie things up at 17 in the third quarter, aided by a touchdown run by Dean Steinkuhler on a fumblerooski play, only to fall behind 31-17 at the end of the period on two long Miami touchdown drives.

With Rozier out of the game due to an injured ankle, backup Jeff Smith tallied a pair of touchdowns, the last of which was a 24-yard score on a 4th-and-8th play to cut the lead to 31-30 with 0:48 remaining. Rather than send out the kicking team, Osborne went for two, which failed when Kenny Calhoun broke up Turner Gill’s pass, giving the Hurricanes the national title.

As overtime had not been instituted yet, Osborne wanted a clear-cut No. 1 ranking with a victory. It’s one of the greatest what-ifs in college football history, as No. 2 Texas lost and No. 3 Auburn won earlier in the day.