Thirty years later, memories of the 1991 Florida Citrus Bowl are still vivid for Bobby Ross. The erstwhile Georgia Tech coach remembered, for instance, a pregame conversation with TV analyst Dick Vermeil about the size of Nebraska’s tight ends.
“He said, ‘You got a look-see at all those big Nebraska farmers there?’” Ross said this week. “Something to that effect. And it wasn’t a good look. I mean, they were big.”
Ross recalled how well his team was treated in its long stay in Orlando, Fla., before the bowl game, held on New Year’s Day in 1991.
He remembered how quarterback Shawn Jones’ 46-yard run on the opening drive to set up a touchdown gave the Yellow Jackets confidence in what would prove to be a 45-21 win over the Cornhuskers, a result that ultimately gained Tech a share of the school’s fourth national championship.
“I have great memories of it,” Ross said.
As well he – and Jackets fans everywhere – ought. On the 30th anniversary of one of the crowning moments in team history, Ross, Jones and other team members shared memories from the win that was the final touch on the Jackets’ 11-0-1 season and earned them the No. 1 ranking in the UPI poll.
Among other memories, Ross remembers the strong turnout of Jackets fans at the Florida Citrus Bowl stadium, a record turnout of 72,328.
Taking the field before kickoff, “I was very surprised by the number of Georgia Tech people we had there,” he said. “It was amazing. There was yellow all over those stands with that little section of red for Nebraska. It was a beautiful day, and I think we were very, very ready to play a good game.”
Even before the game began, Jones was confident about his team’s chances, even though the Jackets were two-point underdogs.
“There was no doubt in my mind that the outcome was going to be any different (than what it was),” he said.
It wasn’t arrogance. As Ross also felt, Jones believed the team had prepared well and had a good plan developed by offensive coordinator Ralph Friedgen and defensive coordinator George O’Leary. Tech was 10-0-1 and No. 2 in the country. There were 10 All-ACC players on the roster. The Jackets had edged No. 15 Clemson, upset then-No. 1 Virginia and dusted off Georgia 40-23.
Marco Coleman, an All-American linebacker on his way to becoming the school’s all-time sack leader, recalled some scrapping in bowl practice.
“We got through it, and it made us better, and we came out and whipped that (expletive),” Coleman said.
Credit: Ken Sugiura/AJC
Credit: Ken Sugiura/AJC
Jones said that the starting offense and defense sometimes squared off in practice, perhaps to work on two-minute or short-yardage situations. It was better competition than what they sometimes faced in games that season.
“And so sometimes it can get real chippy, depending on what’s going on, guys not stopping right when the whistle blew, those kind of things,” Jones said.
The moment was a long time coming. All-American safety Ken Swilling was fueled by the 1989 bowl season, when the Jackets were snubbed after finishing the season 7-4.
“I’m looking at the TV and watching everyone else playing on New Year’s Day,” Swilling said. “I looked at my mom, ‘I’m not going to be here next year at this time. We’re going to be in a New Year’s Day bowl.’ She said, ‘If you say so.’”
Any skepticism could be understood. At the time, Tech had last played in a New Year’s Day bowl in 1967.
And here it finally was, a bowl date with Nebraska.
“It was like a dream come true almost,” Swilling said. “Because the season was magical enough. We felt like we were a good football team, but you just don’t know how good you are, and then you find out that you’re playing Nebraska with their storied history.”
When the Cornhuskers kicked off at 1:30 p.m., Tech was ready, scoring on the opening possession on a drive accelerated by Jones’ tackle-breaking run to the Nebraska 13-yard line. Touchdowns by fullback Stefen Scotton, receiver Emmett Merchant and running back William Bell – the latter two on passes from Jones – put the Jackets up 21-0 halfway through the second quarter.
Joe Siffri, the Jackets’ All-ACC guard, owned up to having been a little bit awestruck by the thought of lining up against the powerhouse Cornhuskers. Nebraska was a perennial top-10 team under coach Tom Osborne, a feared team of the 1980s.
Siffri’s worries evaporated after getting first-series jitters out and realizing that he and his linemates could more than hold their own with the vaunted Cornhuskers. They finished with 467 yards of offense.
“I don’t know what I was expecting – the corn-fed guys coming out of the Midwest – but we were able to move them around just like they were the other teams we played that season,” Siffri said.
Nebraska answered with two touchdowns, cutting the lead to 21-14, still in the second quarter.
The game turned again when Tech’s Jay Martin recovered a fumbled punt, setting up a Scott Sisson field goal for a 24-14 halftime lead. Special teams came through again on Nebraska’s opening possession of the second half, when Keith Holmes blocked a Cornhuskers field-goal try to keep the lead at 10 points.
Bell put the game out of reach with fourth-quarter touchdown runs of six and 57 yards, with Siffri making key blocks on both scores.
“He kind of gets hemmed up and all of the sudden, he breaks out and he’s down the sideline and he’s diving in the end zone and it’s pandemonium everywhere,” Swilling said.
“I just remember handing off the ball and carrying out a fake and William just disappeared,” Jones said. “I thought he was tackled and then all of the sudden, he came out of the pile and he’s still running. I’m like, ‘Yeah, this is a wrap.’”
Coleman, now coaching defensive ends and outside linebackers for Tech, remembers the team’s excitement after winning. Despite being undefeated, the Jackets thrived on the belief that they hadn’t gotten the respect they deserved. Against No. 19 Nebraska, they had seized their opportunity to make a New Year’s Day statement.
“We felt that we let people know that we were for real,” Coleman said. “I think that was a big part of it, to prove the naysayers wrong.”
Siffri, now living in Sandy Springs with a career in medical-device sales, said he had no interest in chasing an NFL career and knew it would be the final game of his career. He recalled cherishing the days spent with teammates in Orlando before the game.
“To this day, I still have dreams I’m at that game with these guys,” he said.
The details of the day haven’t escaped Ross, now 84 and living in Richmond, Va., with Alice, his wife of 62 years.
“I don’t get around as good as I like, but I am 84,” said Ross, who has five children and 18 grandchildren.
Whom does Ross (jokingly) credit for the bowl win? None other than basketball coach Bobby Cremins, who the previous March had led his Jackets to the Final Four. Before leaving for Denver to play UNLV, Cremins asked Ross to address the basketball team.
“I spoke and they lost (to UNLV),” Ross said. “I told him I couldn’t have a loser speaking to our team, so on game day, I had him come and speak to the team. He did a good job.”
Credit: Ken Sugiura
Credit: Ken Sugiura
With Tech’s work done, it was left up to No. 1 Colorado to play No. 5 Notre Dame that night in the Orange Bowl.
“For one moment in time, we all became Notre Dame fans,” said Swilling, who lives in College Park and is the manager of a Sherwin-Williams Paint store in Decatur.
Rather than return to Atlanta, the Jackets had stayed at the team hotel to watch the game. Trailing 10-9 in the final minute of play, the Fighting Irish appeared to deliver Tech a miracle when Raghib Ismail returned a punt 91 yards for a touchdown.
“They punted the ball to him, he takes off, and it’s like everyone in the hotel had to be watching the same thing because the hotel room shook because we were screaming so loud,” Swilling said. “And all of the sudden, you look back and there’s the infamous yellow flag. It broke our hearts.”
A clipping penalty had called back the touchdown return, and Notre Dame was unable to score in the time remaining. In a time before the College Football Playoff or its predecessors, national-championship decisions were left to voters. The AP (media) and UPI (coaches) polls would decide.
Tech contended that it was the only undefeated team (Colorado was 11-1-1), that the Buffaloes had needed a fifth down to avoid an upset loss to Missouri and that Tech had beaten the one common opponent shared with Colorado – Nebraska – by a wider margin.
On Jan. 2, the AP announced that Colorado had won its championship, followed hours later by UPI’s announcement that the Jackets had won its poll’s No. 1 ranking, by an 847-846 count, the narrowest margin in the poll’s history.
That day, Siffri was interviewed live on a local TV station, expressing his displeasure with the AP vote. But before the news broadcast was over, the UPI decision came in and Siffri was back on the air, this time singing a new tune. He recalled explaining that the coaches knew more than sports writers about the makings of a champion.
“It was great timing,” he said.
As Swilling put it, it would have been better to be the outright champ, “but ‘co’ is better than ‘no,’ so we’ll take it.”
In the three decades that have passed, the bonds remain among team members, connected by Facebook, group texts and reunions at Tech games. Before the pandemic, athletic director Todd Stansbury – an academic advisor for that team – had plans to bring back the 1990 football and basketball teams for a 30th anniversary celebration. He did gather virtually with about 30 players for a videoconference before the N.C. State game.
Jones, now a high-school football and basketball coach at Thomasville High (his alma mater) and a private trainer, continues to draw on the experiences of the championship season. The memories are still rich.
“I think all champions would agree, at the moment, you’re satisfied because you’ve won it, but most of the memories come from the climb to get there,” he said.
On the staff of coach Geoff Collins, Coleman endeavors to return the Jackets to that pinnacle.
“We’re going to win us a national championship,” Coleman said. “And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure to be there for it.”
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