Osborne Says Orange Bowl Is Worth Watching By Voters

Even before the Rose Bowl began, Tom Osborne knew the score.

The retiring Nebraska coach was well aware that a victory by No. 1 Michigan would make it tough for his No.2 team to win the national title, no matter how it did against Tennessee in the Orange Bowl.

Still, Osborne was not about to give up Thursday night after Michigan’s 21-16 victory over No. 8 Washington State.

“We set a number of goals at the start of the season and I don’t think any of those are eliminated at this point,” Osborne said.

“Tennessee is going to be a very strong opponent and we’ll just have to see how we play and what people think after the game is over,” he said.

In the morning, he offered this one thought.

“My only hope is that people will watch the games at least through January 2,” he said. “However it falls, it falls.”

Now, in Osborne’s final game tonight, the unbeaten Cornhuskers will get a last chance to stake their claim to a third national title in four seasons when they take on Peyton Manning and the No. 3 Volunteers.

“Whether Michigan wins or loses, hopefully it will not have a major effect on how we play the game,” Osborne said. “You kind of wish you were all playing at the same time.”

Despite its 12-0 record, Nebraska finished far behind Michigan in the polls. The last time a team went undefeated and did not win the title was 1994 - when the Cornhuskers were voted ahead of Penn State. Next season, the bowl alliance will include the Pac-10 and Big Ten champs, making a No. 1 vs. No. 2 match almost certain. Yet Osborne and Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer would support a playoff setup.

“I’ve changed in the last couple, three years,” Fulmer said. “I always thought the bowl system was the way to go. But after being left out of the bowl alliance the last two or three seasons, I think we should play it off.”

In the meantime, there was not much for either team to do Thursday except wait and watch.

Nebraska and Tennessee (11-1) each held walk-through practices at Pro Player Stadium during the first half of the Rose Bowl.

“We were told it was nonnegotiable,” Osborne said. “We tried to negotiate it.”

Osborne was told there was no other option, however, because the elaborate halftime show at the Orange Bowl, sponsored by FedEx, needed the field for preparation. So the Huskers were left to scramble for the TV sets whenever possible to see the Rose Bowl.

“The plan is to try to watch as much as we can,” he said. “We’ll probably miss quite a bit of the game. As I’ve told the players, it doesn’t matter.”

The Cornhuskers wanted to see for themselves, though. Osborne said he offered his players a choice of going to three or four movies, but “85-90 percent wanted to watch the Rose Bowl, so that’s what we’ll do.”

Fulmer and the Vols also got to see Michigan win.

“It was a great game to watch. Michigan played well,” he said. “Our focus was and still is on Nebraska and trying to finish the season in a positive manner.”

For Tennessee, that means trying to stop the Nebraska offense, which leads the nation with 47 points a game, and trying to protect Manning.

At least Fulmer was not fretting about Manning’s gimpy right knee. The All-America quarterback was mobile in practice, giving the Volunteers hope they could exploit Nebraska’s inexperienced secondary.