1988 Orange Bowl

The 1988 Orange Bowl was an American college football bowl game between the Miami Hurricanes and the Oklahoma Sooners. It was the 54th edition of the Orange Bowl and took place at the Orange Bowl stadium in Miami, Florida on January 1, 1988. Miami was coached by Jimmy Johnson and Oklahoma was coached by Barry Switzer.^[1] Miami won the game, 20–14. To date, it is the only time the opposing head coaches from a college national championship football game each later served as head coach of the same professional football team, and won the Super Bowl with that team, that team being the Dallas Cowboys.

The Orange Bowl

The 1988 Orange Bowl featured "Game of the Century"-type billing as the undefeated and top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners faced off against undefeated and second-ranked Miami for the national championship.^[2] Adding to the hype was the recent on-field history between the teams. Oklahoma was a dominant force in college football, winning the national championship in 1985 and losing just one game in each of the preceding two years. Miami, though, had proven to be the thorn in Oklahoma's side, as the Sooners' losses in '85 and '86 had both come at the hands of Miami. Now, with the national championship on the line, Miami sought to make it three-losses-in-three-years for Oklahoma, and also their first postseason bowl win under Jimmy Johnson after three straight bowl losses, two in which they struggled and lost their chances to win the national championships. Further fuel for the fire was provided by the growing personal animosity between former Arkansas player Johnson and Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer, who was also a former Arkansas player.

Miami's vaunted defense set the tone early, forcing the Sooners to punt on their first five possessions. Meanwhile, Walsh settled into a nice rhythm, putting Miami on the board first with a 30-yard touchdown pass to fullback Melvin Bratton, who caught 9 passes for 102 yards for the game. Oklahoma got on the board with a second-quarter touchdown to tie things up, but Miami responded with 10 unanswered third quarter points, coming on a 56-yard field goal by kicker Greg Cox and a 23-yard touchdown pass from Walsh to Irvin. Oklahoma would add a fourth-quarter touchdown to trim the score to 20-14, but Miami held on for the win and the national championship. Johnson received a Gatorade bath, which messed his trademark impeccably coiffed hair, and was carried off the field, having finally won "the big one" at Miami.

The Hurricane defense held Oklahoma to just 255 yards of offense, while Walsh's efficient play (18 of 30, 209 yards, 2 touchdowns) paced the Hurricane offense. Middle linebacker Bernard "Tiger" Clark- a backup middle linebacker who was forced to start after starting MLB George Mira Jr. was suspended for failing a drug test- was named the MVP of the Orange Bowl after recording 14 tackles (12 unassisted).

With the win, Miami completed its first ever undefeated season. In winning their second national championship, the Canes once again had to go through the nation's top-ranked team at the Orange Bowl, just as they had done in 1983.

Statistics

	MIAMI	OKLAHOMA
First Downs	15	13
Rushing Attempts	38	53
Rushing Yards	72	179
Passes Attempted	30	13
Passes Completed	18	5
Had Intercepted	1	0
Passing Yards	209	76
Total Offense	281	255
Punts/Avg.	6/44.7	8/39.0
Fumbles/Lost	0/0	2/4
Penalties/Yards	8-85	5-39

^[3]

SCORE BY QUARTERS	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Miami	7	0	10	3	20
Oklahoma	0	7	0	7	14

Scoring Summary

MIAMI: Bratton 30-yard pass from Walsh (Cox kick); OKLA: Stafford 1-yard run (Lashar kick); MIAMI: Cox 56-yard FG; MIAMI: Irvin 23-yard pass from Walsh (Cox kick); MIAMI: Cox 48-yard FG; OKLA: Hutson 29-yard run (Lashar kick)MOP: Bernard Clark (Miami), Darrell Reed (Oklahoma)

References

1 2 "Orange Bowl; Hurricanes Overwhelm the Sooners to Claim No. 1." (2 Jan 1988) New York Times. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
↑ http://www.orangebowl.org/OB.php?sec=history6
↑ "1988 | Orange Bowl". game.orangebowl.org. Retrieved 2016-10-05.

1987–88 NCAA football bowl game season

California (Dec. 12) Independence (Dec. 19) All-American (Dec. 22) Aloha (Dec. 25) Sun (Dec. 25) Liberty (Dec. 29) Freedom (Dec. 30) Holiday (Dec. 30) Gator (Dec. 31) Astro-Bluebonnet (Dec. 31) Rose (Jan. 1) Orange (Jan. 1) Florida Citrus (Jan. 1) Fiesta (Jan. 1) Cotton (Jan. 1) Sugar (Jan. 1) Hall of Fame (Jan. 2) Peach (Jan. 2)

Orange Bowl Game

History & conference tie-ins	History Miami Orange Bowl Hard Rock Stadium College Football Playoff Broadcasters Atlantic Coast Conference Big Ten Conference Southeastern Conference Notre Dame

Games	1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2014 2015 2016

Notes	The game was also the national title game for either the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, or Bowl Championship Series in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2001, and 2005. There was an Orange Bowl in January and December in 1996 and 2014. The game was a semifinal for the College Football Playoff in its 2015 edition.

Miami Hurricanes bowl games

Pound sign (#) denotes national championship game.

Oklahoma Sooners bowl games

Pound sign (#) denotes BCS National Championship Game.

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