Orange Bowl
1991
Colorado 10
Notre Dame 9
The 1991 Colorado Buffaloes, a team of comebacks and controversy,
overcame the loss of top quarterback Darian Hagan to earn its first
national championship with a 10-9 victory over Notre Dame in the 57th
annual Federal Express Orange Bowl. A year earlier, it was the Golden
Domers who walloped the Buffs, 21-6, on this very same field.
Colorado's Eric Bieniemy led both teams as he gained 86 tough yards on
the ground and 19 yards through the air and scored the Buffaloes lone
touchdown. But the MVP was back-up quarterback Charles S. Johnson, who
completed all three of his passes for 32 yards in a third-quarter drive
that led to Bieniemy's one-yard dive into the end zone--the eventual
winning score. The most exciting part of the game was still to come,
however. Trailing 10-9 with 43 seconds remaining, Notre Dame's Raghib
"Rocket" Ismail broke the Colorado punt coverage and ran 91 yards for
the winning score, only to have it nullified by a late clipping penalty
(video). Five plays later, frustrated Notre
Dame quarterback Rick Mirer threw his third interception of the day.
Colorado defensive back Deon Figures grabbed the ball to seal the
Colorado victory.
The Buffs took an early 3-0 advantage on a 33-yard Jim Harper field
goal, but a Ricky Watters 2-yard run gave Notre Dame a 6-3 lead before
halftime. The outlook seemed bleak for Colorado as Hagan ruptured the
tendon in his knee on the last play of the half as he scrambled for a
5-yard gain. Notre Dame running backs Tony Brooks and Watters, who ran
for 46 and 44 yards, respectively, each fumbled on consecutive
third-quarter possessions. From there, the Colorado defense took over
and kept the Fighting Irish out of scoring range the rest of the way.
Colorado special teams restricted the usually sure-footed Craig Hentrich
to one field goal on three attempts and they blocked his second-quarter
PAT attempt, which eventually spelled the one-point difference in the
game.
Colorado, 11-1-1, was voted the national champion by both the CNN/USA
Today and Associated Press polls.
Alfred Williams gets a fist full of Rick Mirer
Darian Hagan
Charles Johnson
The Rocket on historic non-return
Attendance- 77,062
Scoring Summary
Second Quarter
CU-FG Harper 22
ND- Watters 2 run (kick blocked)
Third Quarter
ND- FG Hentrich 24
CU- Bieniemy 1 run (Harper kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
ND- Brooks 9-46, Watters 9-44, Bettis 3-27, Culver 5-9
CU- Bieniemy 26-86, Hemingway 14-76, Hagan 7-36, Pritchard 2-24
Passing
ND- Mirer 13-31-141
CU- Hagan 4-12-29, Johnson 5-6-80
Receiving
ND- Ismail 6-57, D.Brown 4-56, Jarrell 1-11, Smith 1-9, Davis 1-8
CU- Pritchard 3-45, S.Brown 2-23, Hemingway 2-13, Bieniemy 1-19, Bowman
1-9
