1987 Sugar Bowl
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| 1987 USF&G Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 53rd Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
 The Louisiana Superdome in New 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 | ||||||||||||||||||||
The 1987 Sugar Bowl was the 53rd edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday, January 1. Part of the 1986–87 bowl game season, it featured the fifth-ranked LSU Tigers of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and number 6 Nebraska Cornhuskers of the Big 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.
Nebraska
LSU
Game summary
Both televised by ABC, the game followed the Florida Citrus Bowl and kicked off shortly after 2:30 p.m. CST, two hours after the Cotton Bowl started on CBS, and ninety minutes before the Rose Bowl on NBC.[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 from 1958–82, and has done so again since 1995, 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 to Wendell Davis from freshman quarterback Tommy Hodson; the Tigers scored six plays later on a one-yard touchdown run from Harvey Williams. In the second quarter, Dale Klein kicked a 42-yard field goal for the Huskers and quarterback Steve Taylor scored on a two-yard run to give Nebraska a 10–7 lead at halftime.
Early in the second half, fullback Tyreese Knox scored from a yard out and Nebraska led a 17–7 after three quarters. Tight end Todd 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 was 30–7 with under four minutes remaining. Hodson threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Tony Moss (with a two-point conversion) to tighten the final score to 30–15.
Nebraska's Taylor was named the game's most valuable player;[3] the Huskers climbed to fifth in the final AP poll and LSU fell to 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."
Scoring
First quarter
- LSU – Harvey Williams 1 run (David Browndyke kick)
Second quarter
- Nebraska – Field goal, Dale Klein 42
- Nebraska – Steve Taylor 2 run (Klein kick)
Third quarter
- Nebraska – Tyreese Knox 1 run (Klein kick)
Fourth quarter
- Nebraska – Todd Millikan 3 pass from Taylor (Klein kick)
- Nebraska – Knox 1 run (kick failed)
- LSU – Tony Moss 24 pass from Tommy Hodson (Alvin Lee pass from Hodson)
- Source:[5]