Fiesta Bowl director John Junker called it "one of the mega-games of all time."
Florida coach Steve Spurrier said, "It's as close to a playoff as we can get," and Nebraska coach Tom Osborne's "delighted" with the match.What made them all smile was the official announcement that top-ranked Nebraska will play No. 2 Florida for the national championship Jan. 2 in the Fiesta Bowl.
"It worked out this year that the two undefeated teams are going to play in the Fiesta Bowl, and we're excited to be one of them," Spurrier said Sunday during CBS' bowl selection show.
After enduring months of criticism, the bowl alliance achieved its goal of getting a national championship game between the top two teams in the country. Nebraska (11-0) and Florida (12-0) are the only undefeated, untied teams in Division I-A, and the winner of their showdown will be the undisputed champ of college football.
"In the absence of a playoff, this is certainly the best thing we can do for college football," Osborne said.
The Nebraska-Florida matchup couldn't have happened under the old system of conference tie-ins. Nebraska would have gone to the Orange Bowl as the Big Eight champion and Florida would have gone to the Sugar Bowl as the Southeastern Conference winner.
Now, except for the Rose Bowl's agreement with the Pac-10 and Big Ten, league champions are free to play each other in the Fiesta-Orange-Sugar bowl alliance.
The Fiesta Bowl's dream game became a reality Saturday night when Florida beat Arkansas 34-3 for the SEC championship. Florida is seeking its first national title, while Nebraska is trying to become the first team to win consecutive championships since Alabama in 1978-79.
The Orange and Sugar bowls also made their selections on the CBS telecast. The Orange took No. 6 Notre Dame (9-2) and No. 8 Florida State (9-2), while the Sugar got No. 9 Texas (10-1-1) and No. 13 Virginia Tech (9-2).
The Fiesta will be the 11th bowl game between No. 1 and No. 2. The most recent was No. 1 Florida State's 18-16 victory over No. 2 Nebraska in the 1994 Orange Bowl.
Nebraska hasn't lost since. Led by quarterback Tommie Frazier, the Huskers will take a nation-leading 24-game winning streak into the Fiesta Bowl.
"Playing them will be a big challenge," said Florida quarterback Danny Wuerffel, who is involved in a three-way race for the Heisman Trophy with Frazier and Ohio State tailback Eddie George. "They're a great football team."
The Fiesta Bowl will be a game of contrasts: Florida's high-tech "Fun 'N Gun" passing show vs. Nebraska's ground-and-pound option attack, outspoken Spurrier vs. low-key Osborne, and Wuerffel's pinpoint passes vs. Frazier's elusive runs.
Other bowl pairings: Las Vegas (Nevada-Toledo); Aloha (Kansas-UCLA); Copper (Air Force-Texas Tech); Alamo (Texas A&M-Michigan); Sun (Washington-Iowa); Independence (LSU-Michigan State); Holiday (Kansas State-Colorado State); Liberty (East Carolina-Stanford); Carquest (North Carolina-Arkansas); Peach (Virginia-Georgia); Outback (Penn State-Auburn); Gator (Clemson-Syracuse); Cotton (Colorado-Oregon); Citrus (Tennessee-Ohio State), and Rose (Northwestern-Southern Cal).