1991 Florida Citrus Bowl The 1991 Florida Citrus Bowl was a 1990 – 1991 college football bowl game that was played on January 1 , 1991 , for the national championship . The 45th edition of the Citrus Bowl featured the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets , and the Nebraska Cornhuskers . Georgia Tech came into the game with a 10 – 0 – 1 record and # 2 AP ranking , whereas Nebraska came into the game with a 9 – 2 and # 19 AP ranking . After the win , Georgia Tech was moved from # 2 to # 1 in the Coaches ' Poll , enabling it to claim its fourth national championship . Background . ACC Champion Georgia Tech came into the Citrus Bowl as Division 1 - A ' s only undefeated team at 10 - 0 - 1 and ranked # 2 in both the AP and the Coaches ' Polls behind 10 - 1 - 1 Colorado . They had begun the 1990 season unranked , but worked their way up the polls over the course of the year , helped greatly by a 41 - 38 win over then - # 1 Virginia in week 8 . Their one blemish on the year was a 13 - 13 tie against North Carolina . A potentially - controversial situation would arise in the polls if Georgia Tech could win the Citrus Bowl and finish the year undefeated , pending the outcome of the 1991 Orange Bowl to be played later that night between Notre Dame and Colorado . The Nebraska Cornhuskers , meanwhile , were 9 – 2 , and ranked # 19 in the AP poll . Though they had been in the top ten of the AP poll for most of the season , and as high as # 3 with three games to go , two losses in their last three games plummeted them to 19th . Regardless , Nebraska came into the Citrus Bowl as the favorite , despite their inferior record and ranking . Game recap . Shawn Jones , Georgia Tech ' s sophomore quarterback , rushed for 46 yards on the fourth play of the game which set up the first touchdown . The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 21 - 0 lead during the first half , but Nebraska responded with two touchdowns , narrowing the deficit to 21 - 14 . GT was forced to punt after Nebraska ' s second touch down . However , Nebraska ' s punt returner fumbled the ball with Jay Martin of Georgia Tech recovering , which led to a 37 - yard field goal by Scott Sisson and a 24 - 14 halftime lead . GT coach Bobby Ross said after the game , " I thought the fumbled punt was the key to the game . That changed the momentum of the game . . . Here we were with what we thought was a comfortable lead , and they came back within a matter of a minute , ready to establish momentum . Even though we only got three points out of it , that was one of the big plays we capitalized on . " After blocking a Nebraska field goal on the first possession of the second half , Georgia Tech drove for a touchdown to make the score 31 - 14 . Nebraska ' s final score of the game made it 31 - 21 going into the 4th quarter . Georgia Tech ' s William Bell rushed for two fourth quarter touchdowns to seal the win , 45 - 21 . During the game , Shawn Jones completed 16 of 23 passes for 277 yards and two touchdowns . He also ran for one touchdown , and he was selected the game ' s most valuable player . Georgia Tech also played well defensively . Nebraska averaged 330 rushing yards during the season . However , Georgia Tech held the Cornhuskers to only 126 rushing yards during the game .