UPON FURTHER REVIEW
Unfortunately for Nebraska, the NCAA didn’t institute video review in football games until the 2005 season, after the Big Ten experimented with it in 2004.
Had it been used in 1993, Tom Osborne’s national championship run might’ve been four in his final five seasons, instead of three. Consider the 1994 Orange Bowl against Florida State.
First a lead-in . . .
Nebraska went to Miami 11-0 and ranked No. 2 to play Florida State, 11-1 and ranked No. 1.Florida State, which had opened with a 42-0 victory against Kansas in the Kickoff Classic, had lost to Notre Dame, 9-0 and No. 2, in mid-November. Notre Dame climbed to No. 1. Florida State, despite the loss, only dropped to No. 2, ahead of unbeaten Nebraska. Such could/can be the bias in voting.
A week later, No. 17, and twice beaten, Boston College upset Notre Dame 41-39 and Florida State returned to No. 1, with Nebraska No. 2 and West Virginia, also undefeated, No. 3.
Notre Dame dropped to No. 4, which is how the ratings stood at bowl time.
Some thought Nebraska and West Virginia should’ve played for the national title in the Orange Bowl, given both were undefeated. That West Virginia wasn’t included proved valid; the Mountaineers were hammered by No. 8 Florida, 41-7, in the Sugar Bowl.
Florida State ranked No. 2 nationally in total offense, averaging 548 yards per game, and first in scoring, averaging 43.2 points, managed 333 yards in an 18-16 win against the Huskers.
The Seminoles managed one touchdown, from 1 yard by fullback William Floyd 2:10 into the second half. Except that a reverse angle replay by NBC television indicated he fumbled the ball before reaching the goal line and Nebraska linebacker Mike Anderson recovered in the end zone.
Maybe the replay wasn’t conclusive and the call wouldn’t have been overturned. Still.
A failed 2-point conversion attempt left the score 9-7, Seminoles. Nebraska’s points had come on a 34-yard pass from Tommie Frazier to wide receiver Reggie Baul in the second quarter, 2 minutes after Scott Bentley kicked a 34-yard field goal to get Florida State on the scoreboard.
Bentley kicked a 25-yard field goal with 29 seconds remaining in the first half, as well as a 39-yard field goal late in the third quarter and the game-winner from 22 yards with 21 seconds remaining.
A 23-yard kickoff return by Barron Miles and a 29-yard pass from Frazier to Trumane Bell gave the Huskers a first down at the Florida State 38-yard line as time ran down. Coach Bobby Bowden and the Seminoles thought time ran out before Nebraska called time out. The officials said 1 second remained.
Review might’ve helped the Seminoles there. But it didn’t matter. Byron Bennett’s 45-yard field goal attempt, which would’ve been a game-winner, went wide left.
Bennett had kicked a 27-yard field goal for a 16-15 lead with 1:16 remaining. I-back Lawrence Phillips scored Nebraska’s second touchdown 5 seconds into the fourth quarter. But a 2-point conversion attempt, which would’ve tied the score at 15, failed.
OK, replay. Had Corey Dixon’s 71-yard punt return for a touchdown not been called back for an illegal block NBC’s replay didn’t confirm, the Huskers wouldn’t have needed Bennett’s game-ending field goal.
“I was absolutely amazed by some of the officiating,” Husker All-America linebacker Trev Alberts was quoted. “I think it was the worst I’ve ever seen. I’m not the type of player that blames stuff like that. I guess that’s part of the game. But it didn’t seem like we got any calls, when they fumbled on the goal line and those kind of things.”
If only one of the calls had been overturned by replay, Nebraska would’ve won.
To add insult to injury, the Huskers finished No. 3 in the polls. Notre Dame moved from No. 4 to No. 2 with a 24-21 victory over No. 7 Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl.
Mike Babcock
