 The second-ranked Miami Hurricanes defeated the sixth-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers of the Big Eight Conference.It was a rematch of the 1984 game, in which Miami had won its first national championship.Despite the high rankings of the game was not determining of the national title since top-ranked and undefeated Notre Dame (which had defeated Miami by a point earlier in the season) convincingly won the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona earlier 

The rematch did not turn out to be as close as the 1984 game, and Miami led at halftime.