1983 Orange Bowl

The 1983 edition of the Orange Bowl featured the Nebraska Cornhuskers, and the LSU Tigers.

The game suffered from poor attendance due to riots in the Miami area as well as the game having no impact on the national championship, since No. 2 Penn State was playing No. 1 Georgia at the same time in the Sugar Bowl.

LSU began the season 7-0-1, notching two huge road victories in Southeastern Conference play, ousting No. 5 Florida 24-13 in October and No. 4 Alabama in November. The 20-10 triumph at Birmingham's Legion Field was the Tigers' first over the Crimson Tide since 1970 and lifted LSU to No. 6 in the national polls.

One week after toppling Alabama, any faint national championship hopes LSU harbored were blown away with a stunning 27-24 loss to Mississippi State in Starkville. The Tigers recovered the next week to rout FLorida State 55-21 in Baton Rouge to earn an Orange Bowl berth, but they inexplicably dropped a 31-28 decision to Tulane, a 28-point underdog, at home in the regular season finale. It was the Green Wave's first victory at Tiger Stadium since 1948, and is Tulane's last triumph in the series, which has not been played on a yearly basis since 1994. Despite the November swoon, LSU came into the bowl game ranked #13 by the AP and UPI polls.

Orange Bowl

The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. This bowl game is sponsored by Capital One and part of the College Football Playoff. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935 and celebrated its 75th playing on January 1, 2009. The Orange Bowl, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl (first played 1902, played annually since 1916). The Orange Bowl was a member of the now-defunct Bowl Championship Series (BCS).

The Orange Bowl served as the BCS National Championship Game in 2001 and 2005. However, beginning with the 2006 season, the BCS National Championship Game became a stand-alone event, hosted by the local bowl organization about one week following the New Year's Day bowl games (including the Orange Bowl). Under that format the Orange Bowl Committee hosted two separate games in both 2009 (the 2009 Orange Bowl on January 1 and the 2009 BCS National Championship Game on January 8) and in 2013 (the 2013 Orange Bowl on January 1 and the 2013 BCS National Championship Game on January 7), all at Sun Life Stadium. The BCS ended after the 2013 season, being replaced by the current College Football Playoff.