1997 Sugar Bowl
The 1997 Nokia Sugar Bowl was the 63rd edition to the annual Sugar Bowl game and served as the Bowl Alliance's designated national championship game for the 1996 [NCAA Division I-A football season|1996 season]. It matched No. 1 Florida State of the Atlantic Coast Conference against No. 3 1996 [Florida Gators football team|Florida] of the Southeastern Conference in an all-Florida national championship game. Florida defeated Florida State in convincing fashion, with a final score of 52–20, and with the victory earned its first-ever consensus national championship. This remains the only national championship game to feature two teams from the same state.
This was the last time a team won their first national championship until 2025 [Indiana Hoosiers football team|Indiana] in 2026 [College Football Playoff National Championship|2025].
Teams
The game was a bowl rematch of a regular season game, as Florida State had defeated Florida, 24–21, in a game played in Tallahassee on November 30.Third-ranked Florida was invited to the designated national championship game because the Pac-10 champion was contractually obligated to play in the Rose Bowl Game, and unavailable to participate in the Bowl Alliance national championship game. As a result, second-ranked 1996 [Arizona State Sun Devils football team|Arizona State], the Pac-10 champion, played the Big Ten champion, fourth-ranked 1996 [Ohio State Buckeyes football team|Ohio State], in the 1997 Rose Bowl. When Ohio State defeated Arizona State in the Rose Bowl on January 1, the Sugar Bowl winner was all but assured of being named the consensus national champion.
Florida Gators
The Gators were led by their Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback, Danny Wuerffel. They completed their regular season schedule with a 10–1 record, then defeated No. 11 1996 [Alabama Crimson Tide football team|Alabama] in the 1996 SEC Championship Game.Florida State Seminoles
Top-ranked Florida State entered the bowl with an undefeated 11–0 record, led by quarterback Thad Busby and running back Warrick Dunn.Game summary
After a halftime score of 24–17 in favor of Florida, Florida State closed to 24–20 with a third quarter field goal. Florida then outscored Florida State 28–0 for the remainder of the game, for a 52–20 final. Gator quarterback Danny Wuerffel threw three touchdown passes to Ike Hilliard in the game, and ran for another score. Wuerffel became the second Heisman Trophy winner in four years to win a national championship, following Charlie Ward of the 1993 [Florida State Seminoles football team|1993 Florida State] team.Scoring summary
;First quarter;Second quarter
;Third quarter
;Fourth quarter
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