1996 Orange Bowl (December)
Overview
The 63rd Orange Bowl, also known as the 1996 Orange Bowl, was a 1996–1997 Bowl Alliance
Bowl Alliance
The Bowl Alliance was an agreement among college football bowl games for the purpose of trying to match the top two teams in a national championship bowl game and to provide quality bowl game matchups for the champions of its member conferences...

 game played on December 31, 1996 between the Nebraska Cornhuskers
1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team
The 1996 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Tom Osborne and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.-Schedule:...

 and the . Virginia Tech, champions of the Big East Conference
Big East Conference
The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...

, came into the game with a 10–1 record and #10 AP
AP Poll
The Associated Press College Poll refers to weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling sportswriters across the nation...

 ranking, whereas Nebraska, members of the Big 12 Conference
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...

, came into the game with a 10–2 and No. 6 ranking. In a high-scoring affair, Nebraska defeated Virginia Tech, 41–21.

Due to Bowl Alliance (predecessor to the Bowl Championship Series
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...

) rules, the Orange Bowl following the 1996 season was played on December 31, instead of January 1 or later.
Quotations

[When the Allied forces fire on him] Why are you always messing with me. It's got to be a joke!

[Convincing Shimizu not to kill himself] We can die here, or we can continue fighting. Which would better serve the emperor?

[Letter to his wife] We soldiers dig. We dig all day. This is the hole that we will fight and die in. Am I digging my own grave?

[About Nishi's romancing skills] There are rumors about his womanizing...But there are no women left to woo.

[In response to a soldier saying death is honorable] Kashiwara died of honorable dysentery.

There is no use for a dead soldier.

Damn this island! The Americans can have it.

Do what is right because it is right.

If you want my honest opinion, General, the best thing to do would be to sink this island to the bottom of the sea.

I'm tired of sharing this cave with all of you, I'm a one-man show from now on.

 
x
OK