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Remembering Dick Enberg Orange Bowl and Miami Hurricanes Connections

By Alan Rubenstein

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 29: San Diego Padres announcer Dick Enberg talks to the crowd during a ceremony held before a baseball game between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers at PETCO Park on September 29, 2016 in San Diego, California. The Padres held the pre-game ceremony to honor Enberg's last home game as the team's primary play-by-play man for television broadcasts. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 29: San Diego Padres announcer Dick Enberg talks to the crowd during a ceremony held before a baseball game between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers at PETCO Park on September 29, 2016 in San Diego, California. The Padres held the pre-game ceremony to honor Enberg's last home game as the team's primary play-by-play man for television broadcasts. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /
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Longtime sports broadcaster Dick Enberg passed away at the age of 82 last night. Enberg called multiple Orange Bowl games. One of those was the Miami Hurricanes 1991 National Championship in the 1992 Orange Bowl against Nebraska.

Enberg broadcasted his first Orange Bowl in 1979. Number four Oklahoma defeated number six Nebraska. The game was a rare occurrence of teams from the same conference playing in a bowl game. Among his other broadcasts was the Miami Hurricanes 1992 victory in the Orange Bowl.

The Cornhuskers won the first meeting against Oklahoma 17-14 and the Big Eight regular-season title.  The Sooners turned the tables 31-24 victory in the Orange Bowl.

Enberg called the game with his longtime broadcasting partner Merlin Olsen. It was Olsen’s second Orange Bowl game. He called the game the previous season when Oklahoma lost 31-6 to a Lou Holtz led Arkansas Razorbacks.

Don Criqui took over from Enberg and called every Orange Bowl game in the 1980s. That included Miami’s wins in the 1984 and 1988 Orange Bowls that culminated in National Championships. Three of Miami’s five National Titles came after victories in the Orange Bowl.

Enberg broadcasted the Rose Bowl with Olsen from 1980-88 taking over for the legendary Curt Gowdy. ABC began broadcasting the Rose Bowl in 1989 and has held the rights to the game since.

Enberg returned to Miami to broadcast the 1990 Orange Bowl game with former San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Bill Walsh. The game had National Championship implications.

Although the Miami Hurricanes were in the Sugar Bowl on January 1, 1990, the outcome of the Orange Bowl had major implications in the outcome of the National Championship.

Miami was in the Sugar Bowl to faceoff with Alabama after a 10-1 season. Notre Dame and Colorado were playing in the Orange Bowl. If the Fighting Irish could upset the top-ranked Buffaloes in the Orange Bowl second-ranked Miami would have a shot at the National Championship.

The Miami Hurricanes put themselves in position to win the National Championship after downing Notre Dame 27-10 at home in November. The Irish would go on to defeat Colorado 21-6 in the Orange Bowl.

Simultaneous to Enberg and his team calling the Orange Bowl, the Monday Night Football crew was in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf and Frank Gifford watched the Miami Hurricanes finish their third season resulting in a National Championship.

The Hurricanes defeated Alabama 33-25 in front of a partisan Crimson Tide crowd to capture their third National Championship in seven seasons. Two years later Enberg would call the Hurricanes fourth National Championship.

Miami entered the 1992 Orange Bowl game in a similar situation to 1990 New Year’s Day. The difference was that by the time they took the field, Miami knew that undefeated Washington had already won the Rose Bowl. The best the Hurricanes could do was a split National Title.

Behind Gino Torretta, Larry Jones and a stout defense, the top-ranked Miami Hurricanes shutout Big Eight Champion Nebraska 22-0 to win a share of their fourth National Championship in nine seasons.

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Enberg broadcast his final Orange Bowl game on New Years Day 1994. That game was an 18-16 Florida State victory over Nebraska. The Seminoles win gave Bobby Bowden and Florida State the program’s first National title.

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