1996 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bowl Alliance national championship game 25th Fiesta Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Date | January 2, 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Season | 1995 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stadium | Sun Devil Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | Tempe, Arizona | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
MVP | Tommie Frazier | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Favorite | Nebraska by 31⁄2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
National anthem | Patti Austin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Referee | Pat Flood (Pac-10) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 79,864 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Network | CBS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Announcers | Jim Nantz and Terry Donahue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1996 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game was a post-season college football bowl game that was played on on January 2, 1996, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona as part of 1995 college football season. The game was the first national championship game held under the auspices of the Bowl Alliance, which had been formed prior to the season.
The bowl featured No. 1 ranked, defending national champion, and Big Eight Conference champion Nebraska against No. 2 ranked Florida, the champion of the Southeastern Conference. Nebraska won the game by 38 points, with a final score of 62–24, to repeat as national champions for the second time in school history after doing so in 1970 and 1971. Nebraska’s 38 point victory was, at the time, the largest defeat in National Championship game history and a record that stood until the 2023 College Football Playoff National Championship, when Georgia defeated TCU by 58 points.