1991 Orange Bowl - Setup

Setup

Colorado came into the Orange Bowl 10–1–1, but needed some luck to get to that point. In their first game, the Tennessee Volunteers came back from 21 points out, kicking the tying extra point to hold a 31–31 tie. More than one month later, Colorado quarterback Charles Johnson scored a touchdown to beat the Missouri Tigers 33–31, in a very controversial game in which Colorado was allowed to have a 5th down. The winning touchdown was scored on that play, and it was allowed to stand, even though Johnson was stopped short of the goal line on that play. That game is often referred to as the "5th down game". One reason for the Buffaloes number 1 ranking was that they had the toughest schedule of any team. Another was quarterback Darian Hagan and half back Eric Bieniemy, who finished 3rd in the Heisman voting. A victory would guarantee at least a share of the championship, but the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets weren't far behind with their number 2 ranking in both polls, and were 10–0–1 going into New Year's Day.

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, meanwhile, were 9–2, but the two losses were unfortunate. Both losses occurred when they were number 1 in the polls, and at home. The first was a 36-31 loss to 1-3 Stanford on October 6. The second loss came when Penn State's Craig Fayak kicked a 34 yard field goal to hand the Irish a 24-21 loss. The Penn State loss resulted in Notre Dame's number one ranking falling to Colorado. Sophomore quarterback Rick Mirer passed for 1824 yards and 8 touchdowns, while Raghib Ismail accounted for 1726 all-purpose yards, putting him on the All-American team as a wide receiver.