Orange Bowl game bucks tradition to move to day for 2020

MIAMI GARDENS, FL - DECEMBER 30: Head coach Paul Chryst of the Wisconsin Badgers shakes hands with head coach Mark Richt of the Miami Hurricanes after the 2017 Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium on December 30, 2017 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)
MIAMI GARDENS, FL - DECEMBER 30: Head coach Paul Chryst of the Wisconsin Badgers shakes hands with head coach Mark Richt of the Miami Hurricanes after the 2017 Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium on December 30, 2017 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images)

The 2020 Orange Bowl game (2019 season) will be played sometime in the afternoon before the Rose Bowl (generally a late afternoon eastern time start) per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The Orange Bowl has started or at least finished at night every year since 1965.

The move is only temporary according to Orange Bowl Chief Executive Officer Eric Poms per Barry Jackson. The Miami football program who once dominated the Orange has only played in the game three times in the last 25 seasons.

The Hurricanes lost 24-17 to Nebraska in the 1995 game (1994 season), defeated Florida State 16-14 in January 2005 and 34-24 to Wisconsin in December 2018. Miami played in the Orange Bowl 12 time between January 1984 and the loss to Nebraska in 1994. The Hurricanes won the first four during that era.

Three of those wins earned Miami a national championship. The Hurricanes have played Nebraska in the Orange Bowl four times and six times total in Bowl Games. Four of those games, 1984, 88, 92 and 95 decided the national champion. Miami in the first three of those games and Nebraska in 1995.

Miami Hurricanes Orange Bowl History
RkYearDate
DayBowlWinner/TiePtsLoser/TiePtsNotes
11934Jan 1, 1935TueOrange BowlBucknell26Miami (FL)0Miami, FL
21945Jan 1, 1946TueOrange BowlMiami (FL)13Holy Cross6Miami, FL
31950Jan 1, 1951MonOrange BowlClemson15Miami (FL)14Miami, FL
41983Jan 2, 1984MonOrange BowlMiami (FL)31Nebraska30Miami, FL
51987Jan 1, 1988FriOrange BowlMiami (FL)20Oklahoma14Miami, FL
61988Jan 2, 1989MonOrange BowlMiami (FL)23Nebraska3Miami, FL
71991Jan 1, 1992WedOrange BowlMiami (FL)22Nebraska0Miami, FL
81994Jan 1, 1995SunOrange BowlNebraska24Miami (FL)17Miami, FL
92003Jan 1, 2004ThuOrange BowlMiami (FL)16Florida State14Miami, FL
102017Dec 30, 2017SatOrange BowlWisconsin34Miami (FL)24Hard Rock Stadium – Miami Gardens, Florida

Provided by CFB at Sports Reference: View Original Table
Generated 4/2/2019.

Last season’s Orange Bowl game was a College Football Semifinal. Alabama defeated Oklahoma 45-34 before getting shellacked by Clemson in the College Football Championship game a week later. It was the four straight and seventh time in the last ten years that the Crimson Tide have played in the National Championship Game.

The College Football National Championship game will be played at Hard Rock Stadium in January of 2021 following the 2020 season. It will be the first time the College Football Playoff Championship game is in South Florida. The Orange Bowl Game has been a National Semifinal twice.

Prior to 2018, Clemson defeated Oklahoma 37-15 in the 2015 Orange Bowl, College Football National Semifinal game. The National Championship game was held at Hard Rock four times during the BCS era. Two of those games were the Orange Bowl Game and the other two occurred in stand-alone BCS Championship games.

Miami, Florida and Florida State combined to win four championships during the BCS era. The Gators 24-14 victory over Oklahoma in the title game in January 2009 was the only one won by one of the Sunshine state’s big three in Miami.

Florida State lost in the 2001 Orange Bowl game that many Miami fans believe the Hurricanes should have been in. Miami defeated the Seminoles during the 2000 season. Percentage points separated Miami and Florida State in the final BCS standings that season.

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