| 1987 USF&G Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 53rd Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
 TheLouisiana Superdome inNew Orleans, Louisiana, hosted the Sugar Bowl. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 1, 1987 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1986 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Louisiana Superdome | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | New Orleans,Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Steve Taylor (Nebraska QB) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Nebraska by 4½ points[1][2][3] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Wendell Shelton (SWC) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 76,234 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ABC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Keith Jackson,Tim Brant | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The1987 Sugar Bowl was the 53rdedition of thecollege footballbowl game, played at theLouisiana Superdome inNew Orleans,Louisiana, on Thursday, January 1. Part of the1986–87 bowl game season, it featured thefifth-rankedLSU Tigers of theSoutheastern Conference (SEC) and number 6Nebraska Cornhuskers of theBig Eight Conference. Favored Nebraska trailed early and won, 30–15.[4][5][6][7]
It was the third time in five seasons that the teams had met in a major bowl game(1983 Orange,1985 Sugar),[8] and Nebraska won all three.
Both televised byABC, the game followed theFlorida Citrus Bowl and kicked off shortly after 2:30 p.m.CST, two hours after the Cotton Bowl started onCBS, and ninety minutes before theRose Bowl onNBC.[9]
LSU chose to wear white jerseys as the designated home team, despite an NCAA rule passed in 1983 which required the visiting team to wear white jerseys. LSU traditionally wore white at home from1958–82, and has done so again since1995, when the NCAA partially revoked the 1983 rule, allowing home teams to wear white with consent of the visitors. In 1997, the SEC ruled home teams would have jersey color choice without consent of the visitors for conference games.
On the first play from scrimmage, underdog LSU gained 43 yards on a pass toWendell Davis from freshman quarterbackTommy Hodson; the Tigers scored six plays later on a one-yard touchdown run fromHarvey Williams. In the second quarter,Dale Klein kicked a 42-yard field goal for the Huskers and quarterbackSteve Taylor scored on a two-yard run to give Nebraskaa 10–7 leadat halftime.
Early in the second half, fullbackTyreese Knox scored from a yard out and Nebraska leda 17–7 after three quarters. Tight endTodd Millikan caught a short touchdown pass from Taylor early in the fourth, and Knox added another one-yard run for thirty unanswered points and the score was30–7 with under four minutes remaining. Hodson threw a 24-yard touchdown pass toTony Moss (with atwo-point conversion) to tighten the final scoreto 30–15.
Nebraska's Taylor was named the game's most valuableplayer;[3] the Huskers climbed to fifth in thefinal AP poll and LSU fellto tenth.
After the game, Tom Osborne said "We weren't playing for the national championship, the Big Eight Championship was out the window. The only thing we had left was the Sugar Bowl."
First quarter
Second quarter
Third quarter
Fourth quarter
| Statistics | Nebraska | LSU |
|---|---|---|
| First Downs | 22 | 10 |
| Rushes–yards | 60–242 | 29–32 |
| Passing yards | 110 | 159 |
| Passes | 11–20–0 | 14–30–2 |
| Total Offense | 80–352 | 59–191 |
| Punts–average | 4–30.5 | 6–42.0 |
| Fumbles–lost | 5–2 | 6–1 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 3 |
| Penalties–yards | 5–78 | 12–130 |
| Time of possession | 39:13 | 20:47 |
The victory improved Nebraska to 5–0–1 all-time vs. LSU. The Cornhuskers defeated the Tigers 17–12 in the1971 Orange Bowl (to secure the national title) and 10–7 in the1975 season opener at Lincoln. They played to a 6–6 tie at Baton Rouge to open the1976 season and Nebraska defeated the LSU Tigers in the1983 Orange Bowl 21-20.
This was the final game for LSU under head coachBill Arnsparger; he had accepted theathletic director position at conference rivalFlorida, announced immediately after the Tigers' regular season finale withTulane onNovember 29.[10] Arnsparger led LSU to the SEC championship this season, its first since1970, but his minimal recruiting skills and0–3 bowl record (two of those losses to the Cornhuskers) left many LSU fans in disfavor of him. Arnsparger departed with a 26–8–2 (.750) record and recommended his 33-year-old defensive coordinatorMike Archer as his successor.
Archer coached the next four seasons at LSU with a 27–18–1 (.598) record, but Arnsparger's lack of recruiting put him in a hole. Most of Arnsparger's best players, such as NT Henry Thomas, OG Eric Andolsek, C Nacho Albergamo, and FS Chris Carrier, were all recruited by the previous head coach,Jerry Stovall (although Arnsparger recruited QB Tommy Hodson). LSU played inbowls in the following two seasons, but then suffered through six consecutive losing seasons from 1989-94, the first two under Archer and the next four underCurley Hallman. LSU's next bowl game was the1995 Independence Bowl underGerry DiNardo.
LSU did not return to the Sugar Bowl (or any major bowl) until it won the SEC championship in2001 under second-year coachNick Saban. The Tigers then rolled overIllinois 47-34 in the2002 Sugar Bowl behindRohan Davey's 444 yards passing. LSU subsequently won the2004 Sugar Bowl following the2003 season (vs.Oklahoma to win theBowl Championship Series national championship) and the2007 Sugar Bowl following the2006s season (vs.Notre Dame). Additionally, LSU has played in three national championship games at New Orleans since its most recent Sugar Bowl, defeatingOhio State in2007, losing toAlabama in2011 and defeatingClemson in2019.
Nebraska continued its winning football underTom Osborne withnational championships in1994 and1995. They tied for another in1997 and played for another in2001 underFrank Solich.
The Cornhuskers have not played in the Sugar Bowl since this game. They are 3-1 in the Sugar Bowl, previously losing toAlabama in1967 and defeatingFlorida in1974, in addition to the victory over LSU in 1985. Nebraska's only game in the state ofLouisiana since the 1987 Sugar Bowl was a 27-23 loss toOle Miss in the2002 Independence Bowl atShreveport.