Nebraska leading 28-24. Seven minutes left in the game. Cornhuskers 1st-and-goal 3y from a commanding lead. The Seminoles need a miracle ...

Florida State came into the New Year's Day game in Tempe AZ ranked third while Nebraska was fifth. Both teams finished the 1987 regular season with 10 wins and one loss to a rival nemesis. Miami won a 26-25 decision in Tallahassee on Octo­ber 3 by knocking down a two-point conversion pass in the last minute. Ne­braska had also lost at home to Oklahoma 17-7 on November 21. It was the fifth meeting between FSU and Nebraska but the first not played in Lincoln. Each team had won two.

Tom Osborne's Huskers jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter before a sun-bathed but chilly standing-room only crowd of 72,112, third largest in Fiesta Bowl history. TB Keith Jones scored from the three 6:10 into the game following Rich­ard Bell's 27y punt return to the 18. Later, the usually reliable FSU special teams faltered again, allowing Dana Brinson to return a punt 52y to paydirt with 1:10 left.

FSU tallied 21 unanswered points as QB Danny McManus got hot. Going 16-30/199 in the first half, Danny hit WR Herb Gainer with a 10y touchdown pass 4:30 into the second period after a Deion Sanders interception. and found Gainer again on a 25y strike with 44 seconds left. In between, FB Dayne Williams plunged in from the three to cap a 6-play 75y drive following LB Paul McGowen's fumble recovery.

QB Steve Taylor's 3y run 3:19 into the third quarter tied the game at 21. Then the Seminoles retook the lead on a 32y field goal by Derek Schmidt — the NCAA's all-time leading scorer at the time — with 7:49 remaining in the period. But the Cornhuskers drove to take a 28-24 advantage on backup TB Tyreese Knox's 4y run with only 0:40 left in the third quarter.

The final period was packed with big plays and excitement. The score remained the same when the situation described at the beginning of this article took place — Nebraska 1st-and-goal at the three. Faced with the prospect of falling at least six points behind and possibly 10, the Seminole defense forced Knox to fumble, and DT Eric Hayes pounced on the pigskin at the three.

Still, 97y and the Black Shirt defense separated the Seminoles from the go-ahead touchdown with slightly less than seven minutes to play. But McManus cooly moved his unit downfield, primarily through the air. He completed four, two to RB Dexter Carter for 57y, to put the pigskin on the two — essentially the same position Nebraska had been in minutes earlier.

The Huskers gang-tackled Carter on a sweep left for no gain. That's when the Seminoles were called for only their second penalty — a personal foul on Carter for kicking one of the tacklers — and it almost beat them. The infraction pushed FSU back to the 18.

McManus dumped his third-down pass over the middle for only 3 yards. On fourth down, Bowden eschewed a field goal that would have cut the margin to one with only three minutes left. Instead, McManus made the clutch play of the game to cement the MVP award. The senior fired a pass to WR Ronald Lewis wide open in the end zone to give the Seminoles the lead 31-28 and put Nebraska's back to the wall.

Taking to the air to mount a comeback, Taylor completed a 56y pass and run to the Seminole two. However, the gain was erased by an illegal formation penalty with 2:41 to go. Osborne said afterwards. "The tight end lined up on the wrong side of the formation, which made him an ineligible receiver. It was a tragic play as far as we were concerned."

The Seminoles then put pressure on Taylor, forcing him into an intentional grounding penalty. Faced with 4th-and-35, the Cornhuskers ran out of downs, and FSU ran out the clock.

The Seminole field general set two Fiesta Bowl records and tied another. McMan­us's 375y passing broke the record of 347 set by another Seminole, Gary Huff, in the first Fiesta Bowl in 1971. Danny's three TD passes tied a record, and his 51 attempts surpassed the 50 thrown by Miami's Vinny Testaverde just the year before against Penn State.

"I don't even throw 51 times in practice. I haven't thrown for 300 yards since high school," said McManus, whose previous best college game was 275y in the 1987 season-opener against Texas Tech. "I was just glad our receiver (Lewis) was wide open on the last play. That was the easiest pass I had."

Florida State finished #2 in the final AP poll behind Miami, which defeated pre­vious #1 Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl. It would mark the start of an incredible 12-year run of top 5 finishes for Florida State.