2008 ORANGE BOWL GUIDE - HokieSports

2008 ORANGE BOWL GUIDE
BOWL HISTORY
1996 Orange Bowl
Nebraska 41, Virginia Tech 21
MIAMI, Fla. — Virginia Tech’s second
venture into Bowl Alliance territory wasn’t as
successful as the first, but the Hokies’ 41-21
loss to power-packed Nebraska was much closer
than the final scored indicated.
Nebraska out-gained Tech
by just seven yards, 415 to 408,
in total offense and managed to
lead by only three points with
less than one minute remaining
in the third quarter. In the end,
it was the Nebraska depth that
wore down the Hokies.
A crowd of 51,212 at
Pro Player Stadium saw Tech
quarterback Jim Druckenmiller
throw three touchdown passes
despite a fierce rush by the Cornhusker
defenders. Tech opened the scoring with
3:14 left in the first quarter when Marcus
Parker scored on a 19-yard screen pass from
Druckenmiller.
Nebraska answered with a 25-yard field
goal by Kris Brown and a 5-yard scoring run
by quarterback Scott Frost. Then came the
84 VIRGINIA TECH FOOTBALL 2007
play that may have been most crucial in the
Hokies’ defeat. Druckenmiller fumbled when
hit and Nebraska’s Jason Peter scooped up the
ball and ran 31 yards into the end zone. That
made the score 17-7, Nebraska.
Tech came right back, scoring
with just 19 seconds left in
the half on a 6-yard pass from
Druckenmiller to Shawn Scales,
who took the ball away from a
Cornhusker defender. The score was
24-21 in favor of Nebraska after
Druckenmiller’s 33-yard scoring
pass to Cornelius White late in the
third quarter. But Nebraska then
salted the victory away, scoring
the final 17 points.
Tailback Ken Oxendine was voted Tech’s
Most Valuable Player after running for
150 yards on 20 carries — the fifth-best
individual rushing performance in the bowl’s
history. Druckenmiller wound up completing
16 of 33 passes for 214 yards. The Hokies’ top
defensive player was safety Torrian Gray who
had a total of 12 tackles.
Ken Oxendine (28) ran for 150 yards against Nebraska’s defense in the
1996 Orange Bowl and Jim Druckenmiller (16) threw three TD passes.
December 31, 1996 • Miami, Fla.
Pro Player Stadium • Att: 51,212
Virginia Tech 7 7 7 0 — 21
Nebraska 0 17 14 10 — 41
VT (3:14 re 1st) — Parker 19 pass from Druckenmiller
(Graham kick)
UN (13:25 re 2nd) — FG Brown 25
UN (9:14 re 2nd) — Frost 5 run (Brown kick)
UN (3:36 re 2nd) — Peter 31 fumble ret (Brown kick)
VT (0:19 re 2nd) — Scales 6 pass from Druckenmiller
(Graham kick)
UN (9:54 re 3rd) — Benning 33 run (Brown kick)
VT (4:58 re 3rd) — White 33 pass from Druckenmiller
(Graham kick)
UN (0:20 re 3rd) — Benning 6 run (Brown kick)
UN (7:52 re 4th) — FG Brown 37
UN (3:26 re 4th) — Frost 22 run (Brown kick)
Team Statistics VT UN
First downs 22 25
Rushes-yds. 39-193 49-279
Passing yds. 214 136
Return yds. 95 147
Passes 16-33-0 11-22-0
Punts-avg. 5-34 2-45
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties-yds. 5-89 3-16
Time of poss. 31:02 28:58
Sacks by 0-0 3-24
Individual Leaders
Rushing — VT, Oxendine 20-150, Parker 8-22,
Druckenmiller 9-18, Stith 2-3; UN, Benning 15-95, Frost
9-62, Green 7-52, Sims 8-48, Makovicka 4-12, Turman 2-8,
Schuster 4-2.
Passing — VT, Druckenmiller 16-33-0-214; UN, Frost
11-22-0-136.
Receiving — VT, Jennings 4-58, Oxendine 3-60,
Parker 3-28, White 2-38, Stuewe 2-23, Scales 2-7; UN,
Wiggins 3-36, Lake 2-27, Cheatham 1-23, Brown 1-23, S.
Jackson 1-11, V. Jackson 1-9, Holbein 1-5, Benning 1-2.