Florida St. 41
Nebraska 17

Jan. 1, 1990 • 3:30 p.m. Central
Fiesta Bowl • Tempe, AZ • NBC
1st2nd3rd4th F 
Nebraska730717
Florida St.02120041
First Quarter
NEB: Morgan Gregory 9 pass from Gerry Gdowski (Gregg Barrios kick) 11:19
Second Quarter
FSU: Terry Anthony 14 pass from Peter Tom Willis (Richie Andrews kick) 13:42
NEB: Chris Drennan 39 field goal, 12:15
FSU: Reggie Johnson 5 pass from Willis (Andrews kick) 6:55
FSU: Dexter Carter 10 pass from Willis (Andrews kick) 0:24
Third Quarter
FSU: Paul Moore 1 run (kick blocked) 5:59
FSU: Johnson 8 pass from Willis (Andrews kick) 3:37
FSU: Anthony 24 pass from Willis (Andrews kick) 0:02
Fourth Quarter
NEB: Mickey Joseph 2 run (Drennan kick) 1:16

                        NEB      FSU 
First downs ............ 18        18 
Rushes-yards ....... 46-115     24-72 
Passing yards ......... 207       422 
  Comp-Att-Int .... 15-26-2   25-41-0 
Returns-yards ......... 2-5      2-42
Total offense ...... 72-322    65-494 
Sacks by .............. 1-8      2-15 
Punts-avg ............ 3-34      3-36 
Fumbles-lost .......... 5-3       0-0 
Penalties-yards ...... 6-48    13-135 
Possession time ..... 32:30     27:30
Third-down conv. ..... 7/18      7/16
Fourth-down conv. ..... 1/2       1/3

Rushing
NEB: Ken Clark 16-86; Leodis Flowers 4-25; Bryan Carpenter 3-6; Terry Rodgers 4-3; Richard Bell 1-2; Gdowski 12-1; Tyrone Hughes 1-minus 2; Joseph 4-minus 2, 1 TD; William Washington 1-minus 4.

FSU: Carter 13-72; Amp Lee 2-6; Edgar Bennett 3-3; Paul Moore 4-3; Lawrence Dawsey 1-minus 4; Willis 1-minus 8.

Passing
NEB: Gdowski 13-23-2-154 1 TD; Mike Stigge 1-1-0-41; Joseph 1-2-0-12.

FSU: Willis 25-40-0-422, 5 TD; Casey Weldon 0-1-0-0.

Receiving
NEB: Gregory 4-67, 1 TD; Bell 3-46; Jon Bostick 3-27; Carpenter 2-6; Mark Dowse 1-41; Chris Garrett 1-15; Hughes 1-5.

FSU: Anthony 6-88, 2 TD; Ronald Lewis 5-106; Dawsey 4-66; Carter 3-47, 1 TD; Johnson 3-27, 2 TD; Shannon Baker 2-49; Bennett 1-30; Lee 1-9.

Punting
NEB: Stigge 3-103, 34.3.
FSU: John Winberly 3-107, 35.7.

Field goals
NEB: Drennan 39Y, 49N. FSU: Bill Mason 37N; Andrews 39N.

Punt returns
NEB: Hughes 2-5. FSU: none.

Kickoff returns
NEB: Flowers 4-64, Hughes 1-62, Garrett 1-2, Scott Kurtz 1-11.
FSU: Dawsey 3-59.

Interception returns
NEB: none.
FSU: LeRoy Butler 1-23; Kevin Grant 1-19.

MORE STATS

Attendance: 73,953

Coverage

Recap

1990 Fiesta Bowl FSU passBilly Tom Willis gets a pass off in the first quarter as Nebraska’s Kenny Walker pursues. · The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) · Newspapers.com

’Noles’ passing leaves Husker defense dazed

After spotting the Huskers early leads of 7-0 and 10-7, Florida State ran off 34 consecutive points to build a 41-10 lead at the end of three quarters, then settled in for a 41-17 victory.

The Seminoles destroyed the Huskers with a lightning-quick defense and a passing attack the likes of which Nebraska had not seen in its first 100 years of football. Senior quarterback Peter Tom Willis threw for 422 yards, the most passing yards ever against a Nebraska team, as he completed 25 of 40 passes with no interceptions and five touchdowns.

“They obviously had very fine receivers and a great passer,” said Nebraska coach Tom Osborne. “And a lot of big plays. A couple of times, the receivers were open. A couple of times they made great catches. A couple of times it was like a jump ball on the passes, and they got them.”

If there was a turning point in the game, it came in the final three minutes of the first half. Leading, 14-10, Florida State had moved the ball to the Nebraska 35, but three straight holding penalties moved the Seminoles back to a first-and-40 at their 35. Two plays later, Willis converted on third-and-23 at the NU 48, finding fullback Edgar Bennett with a 30-yard pass for a first down at the Husker 18. Three plays after that, Willis tossed a 10-yard scoring strike to tailback Dexter Carter and FSU led at halftime, 21-10.

Full recap here.

Game on YouTube
RESPONSIVE IMAGE HERE

PHOTO CAPTION HERE | Courtesy of Nebraska Athletics
Neb. Sources
Omaha World-Herald
Lincoln Journal Star
Hail Varsity
More sources
Sun Sentinel
Tampa Bay Times*
Florida Today
Arizona Republic
Associated Press
United Press International
Pregame & team info
1989 schedule
04/29White 40, Red 28
09/09N. IllinoisW 48-17
09/16UtahW 42-30
09/23@ MinnesotaW 48-0
09/30Oregon St.W 35-7
10/07Kansas St.W 58-7
10/14@ MissouriW 50-7
10/21@ Oklahoma St.W 48-23
10/28Iowa St.W 49-17
11/04@ ColoradoL 21-27
11/11KansasW 51-14
11/18OklahomaW 42-25
01/01Florida St.L 17-41
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