BYRD)ĭepending on your allegiances, it was amazing, inexplicable, euphoric, unforgivable. The ’Canes would go on to win their second national title.Īnd a rivalry that ruled an entire generation was spawned.įSU's Rock Preston (24) goes in for the touchdown that set up the extra point that tied the score at 31 in the fourth quarter of "Choke at Doak." (AP PHOTO/ALAN D. McManus underthrew his intended target, and UM recovered the onside kick. “I decided to go for two points,” he said. The ’Noles mounted a furious final drive behind senior quarterback Danny McManus, who hit Ronald Lewis for an 18-yard TD with 42 seconds to play.īowden initially sent out kicker Derek Schmidt (who had missed a 31-yard field goal late in the fourth) to try for the tie, but reconsidered when he saw the distraught look on his players’ faces. It gave UM a 26-19 lead with 2:22 to play. 4 ’Noles built a 19-3 lead before the third-ranked ’Canes stormed back.įirst-year UM starter Steve Walsh found Melvin Bratton over the middle for a 49-yard touchdown (the two-point try worked) before hooking up twice with Michael Irvin, the second a spiral down the right sideline that Irvin caught in stride for a 73-yard touchdown. The talent delivered a three-plus-hour spectacle.īehind tailback Sammie Smith (30 carries, 189 yards), the No. “I’d never seen that much talent on a football field,” former FSU coach Bobby Bowden told Tampa Bay Times columnist Martin Fennelly on the game’s 30-year anniversary. In all, FSU scored 21 fourth-quarter points there were three lead changes in the final 4:30. FSU’s Rashad Greene (nine catches, 147 yards, including a 49-yarder on the final drive) was pulled to the turf by Auburn’s Chris Davis, prompting the flag. Winston was 5-for-6 for 69 yards on the drive, which was aided by a Tigers pass-interference penalty on third and 8 from the AU 10. It was FSU’s third national championship, and it also ended a run of seven consecutive national titles by SEC schools. But freshman quarterback Jameis Winston, the Heisman Trophy winner competing on his 20th birthday, led FSU on a seven-play, 80-yard drive, culminating in a 2-yard pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds remaining.
28, found itself down by 18 points in the second quarter and faced a three-point deficit in the final minute. The unbeaten Seminoles (14-0) were far from perfect in this BCS Championship Game in Pasadena, Calif., but at the season’s most critical juncture, they were nearly flawless.įSU, which had not trailed in that season since Sept. RELATED: Fabulous 50: State’s all-time greatest college football playersįlorida State's Jameis Winston with The Coaches' Trophy after the NCAA BCS National Championship college football game against Auburn Monday, Jan. In conquest, the U’s stature was conceived. The Huskers responded with two of their own, the latter a 24-yard run by I-back Jeff Smith on a fourth-and-8 option play with less than a minute to play.Īll of which set up to one of college football’s most endearing images: a stoic Osborne choosing to go for two - instead of playing for the tie - in the waning seconds, then looking on as Turner Gill rolls right and fires to Smith, only to have UM’s Kenny Calhoun tip it away. UM regrouped and scored the next two TDs. Nebraska rallied to tie it, sparked by its “fumblerooski” play that resulted in a 19-yard touchdown by right guard Dean Steinkuhler. ’Canes lanky redshirt freshman quarterback Bernie Kosar staked UM to a 17-0 lead. Nebraska, led by Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier, could muster nothing. It even provided the nation with its initial glimpse of the trademark Miami swag: Facing a team that had scored at least 50 points in seven games, the ’Canes - technically the visiting team in their home stadium - won the toss and chose to kick off. The game’s momentum shifts were seismic, and some of its most pivotal moments remain requisite clips in any montage honoring college football history.