Hurricanes Storm Past Nebraska, 37-14, In Rose Bowl

Miami locks up a well-earned national title

The Miami Hurricanes ripped into Nebraska like rowdy, happy kids landing on a great big Christmas present. They knew that, somewhere in that package, was a shiny national college football championship. The undisputed kind.

And Miami earned that championship Thursday in the Rose Bowl, thrashing NU, 37-14. Miami was the better team. The hope among Husker fans, that the Hurricanes couldn't defend against the NU option game, proved to be baseless. The notion that NU could defend against Miami's passing game proved to be ridiculous. Miami's receivers made you think of that car commercial. The one where the little kid keeps saying "Zoom, zooooom, zoom."

Nebraska's dreams of a national title turned into a nightmare shortly after the game began. NU finished the year 11-2. Miami, 12-0.

"We certainly didn't play well or make it a competitive game, so, from that end of it, it was certainly not the matchup everybody dreamed of," Nebraska Coach Frank Solich said. "But whether any other matchup would have been any different, I don't know."

Nebraska and the No. 1 'Canes traded punts. Then they traded turnovers. Then Nebraska turned the ball over some more.

Then, bang. Miami led 7-0 at the end of the first period. Defensive back Keyuo Craver went down, then had to watch as Miami's Andre Johnson waltzed into the end zone with a Ken Dorsey pass. The play covered 49 yards.

It didn't look like anything Nebraska couldn't overcome.

And then, bang, bang, bang. Before the second quarter was half over, Miami was up, 27-0. What had happened? A couple more Nebraska turnovers. A lot of speed in the Miami receiving corps. Dorsey got the time he needed to throw. When NU gave Miami a short field, the 'Canes showed that they could make short work of it.

And Miami showed that it was altogether ready for NU quarterback Eric Crouch. Whether the Heisman Trophy winner wanted to run or pass or pitch, the 'Canes were there to bump him or thump him.

"They shut down our running game and they put us in a lot of situations where it was third-and-long," Crouch said. "They're a very fast defense and they made very good plays."

Nebraska began to look like a heavy bag on a tether, trying to spar with the young Ali.

All Nebraska fans could do was hope that the Huskers would live up to their reputation as a second-half team. They certainly knew NU would never live down a thumping at the hands of the Hurricanes in a national championship game; a game that many had said Nebraska didn't belong in, anyway.

Miami's speed was NU's undoing, early and often. That, and the fact that Nebraska's defense failed to pressure Dorsey. He might as well have been throwing against his own squad's second team in practice. Miami's receivers went to where the Husker defenders weren't, and Dorsey threw 'em the ball. Nebraska's Blackshirt defenders took another step toward picking up another nickname: the Wrongshoes. They only brought one pair to the Rose Bowl, and they were problematic.

At 27-0, the question was: Could Nebraska buckle down, on offense and defense? Hang on until the half, and a breather that would let the Huskers regroup?

Nope.

With its back to the wall, the NU offense stuttered again. Punt. Bang! Another Dorsey touchdown pass. Miami had scored 27 points in the second quarter. Whew!

Miami 34, Nebraska 0.

Finally, after a half that seemed like half an eternity, came a merciful halftime. If it had been a prize fight, the ref would have gone to NU's manager and said: "I'm gonna' let it go another round, but if your guy don't fight back, or at least defend himself, I gotta' stop it."

Well before intermission, Keith Jackson and company were noting that no NU squad coached by Frank Solich had ever overcome a 10-point deficit.

No doubt Solich talked to his team during the halftime break about getting their stuff together, and making a game of it.

In the stands, and in barrooms and living rooms around the country, people were talking about the shellacking that Colorado had given Nebraska in their final regular-season meeting, 62-36. That was the beating that led to howls of protest when the BCS system, mostly through computer rankings, gave Nebraska the nod for this contest, the winner of which was guaranteed the USA Today/ESPN national title. That's the one based on the coaches' poll. Miami knew that a victory would assure them the AP national championship. That's the one voted on by writers and broadcasters. An NU win guaranteed a split title, with the AP version going to Oregon. The Ducks beat Colorado in a bowl meeting New Year's Day.

Memories of the Colorado game were appropriate tonight. In that devastating second quarter, it seemed like Miami scored every couple of minutes. And for good reason.

Clinton Portis scored on a 39-yard run with 14:33 on the clock. James Lewis intercepted a Crouch pass and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown with 12:52 remaining. It was a heartbreaker, since the ball had flown through the hands of NU tight end Tracey Wistrom. Jeremy Shockey caught Dorsey's second TD pass, a 21-yarder with 10:40 to go. And Johnson got his second score of the game, taking Dorsey's 8-yard toss, with 3:35 remaining.

Late in the third period, fullback Judd Davies capped a Nebraska drive with a 16-yard up-the-gut run. That gave NU fans some comfort. There wouldn't be a shutout. The other small, but real, blessing was that Nebraska didn't give up any more points in the third period. This might be a disgrace, but not one of Colorado proportions. Keith Jackson noted that NU had one more quarter "to make this thing respectable."

It was only a minute or so later that DeJuan Groce contributed mightily to that move on respectability. The defensive back took a Miami punt, and then took it back 71 yards for a touchdown. En route he broke a tackle, not with a juke but with muscle, his teammates splattered a couple of defenders, and it looked, at last, like the real Nebraska team had arrived. The clock showed 14:28 left in the game. The score was 34-14.

Miami added a field goal shortly thereafter. And that was that.

It marked the first time NU had suffered back-to-back losses since 1990, when the Huskers fell to Oklahoma in the season finale, and then to Georgia Tech in the Citrus Bowl.

Nebraska had "won" the second half, 14-3, something that might be of comfort to the Husker Nation as the months and years go by. But a share of a national championship, a Rose Bowl victory, and a chance to show up the world (particularly that part known as Colorado) was lost.

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