PASADENA, Calif. -- Fourteen national rushing titles. I-backs out the wazoo. Offensive linemen that don't just block, they "pancake."

Cornerback Keyuo Craver is one of Nebraska's three All-Americans in the secondary since 1999.(Allsport)

But it can be argued the most important play in Nebraska history was a pass thrown 17 years ago. An incomplete pass at that. When Miami safety Ken Calhoun broke up Turner Gill's two-point conversion throw, it changed the game more than any single play in the past two decades.

It was more than Miami-Nebraska the night of Jan. 2, 1984. Miami's 31-30 victory signaled a fundamental shift in college football. Passing was in. Nebraska, at least as a national championship player, was out. The Hurricanes' dynasty was hatched that night when Gill's pass fell to the turf.

Miami took off, winning four titles in nine years. Nebraska faced a long period of introspection that eventually led to the Huskers winning three of the past seven national championships.

Who knew that night the two programs would dominate the game from that day forward? No other two can match the seven combined titles since 1983 that Nebraska and Miami will bring to the table Thursday in the Rose Bowl.

All, perhaps, because of that one pass.

"That's the only thing I can remember," said Miami offensive tackle Joaquin Gonzalez, who was a 4½-year-old Miami native at the time. "Tell me Nebraska-Miami. I think failed two-point conversion."

Miami's ascension forced Florida State and Florida to play catchup in their own state. Nebraska was just getting the hint Jan. 2, 1984. As late as 1987, Nebraska's didn't even recruit defensive backs.

"We got leftovers," Nebraska secondary coach George Darlington said. "If you were a fourth-team I-back, you might end up in the secondary."

Antiquated? One of Darlington's pass coverages was called "Sherman," after the Civil War general.

It was a modern version of the tortoise and the hare. Receivers jumping over and running past Nebraska defenders was just part of it. From 1987 through 1993, Nebraska lost seven consecutive bowl games. Six were against either Florida State or Miami. Four were in the Orange Bowl, where the Huskers were essentially playing the Seminoles and Hurricanes on their home turf.

"I remember we'd go to down to the Orange Bowl, always playing Miami, and we just couldn't get a win," said Dave Volk, a Husker offensive tackle who grew up in Battle Creek, Neb. "Everybody was calling for Coach Osborne's head. We came out and finally got that first one against Miami down there. After that, he was a genius, one of the best college coaches ever. It means a lot to be somewhere other than Miami, playing Miami in a bowl game."

The fallout from that 1984 Orange Bowl has been far and wide. Without that failed two-pointer, does Bernie Kosar become a Miami and Cleveland legend? Does Michael Irvin head to Coral Gables? Does the infamous Miami swagger ever step off a plane at the Fiesta Bowl, dressed in battle fatigues?

Had Osborne done the safe thing and kicked the extra point, he probably would have gotten his first national championship a lot sooner. By going for the victory and failing, Osborne built up admiration from his peers that was eventually expressed with a share of the national championship in the coaches poll in 1997.

"That 1983 season, we had maybe the most dominant offense that ever played," Darlington said. "We had the worst defense statistically that we've ever had in my 29 years.

"It was a signature game for Coach Osborne. A lot of people thought we should have kicked the extra point and still won the national championship. His attitude was to win. And the players, the great majority, if not all of them, felt the same way. I think he identified himself as the type of person he was."

Was it unfair all those years that Nebraska's reward during that period was a trip into the belly of the South Florida beast? Sure. That 1984 Orange Bowl is still remembered for supposedly neutral Orange Bowl officials jumping up and down on the sidelines with glee their Hurricanes had won.

There were no regrets. Going for the two-pointer had been discussed for weeks in Nebraska's coaches meetings. The so-called "Scoring Explosion" offense of Gill, wingback Irving Fryar and Heisman winner Mike Rozier wasn't going to back down to the Miami upstarts.

But without the mismatches that followed, neither program would be in Pasadena this week. Because of the long-ago victory against Nebraska, Miami established a legacy it struggled to live up to after NCAA probation in the mid-1990s. Because of Miami, Nebraska became a more complete team.

Nebraska broke that seven-game bowl losing streak in 1994 with a turnaround that was as dramatic as Miami's in 1983. It was more than symbolic the end of the frustration came against Miami in the 1995 Orange Bowl. Beginning in 1994, Osborne won three titles in four years before stepping down after the 1997 season.

"We went through a period there where we were probably not playing with quite the athletes that they had on the field," Solich said. "It became obvious to us we had to get more speed in our program. We stuck with our philosophy, which was a key. I don't think we would have had the success that we had if we listened to everybody else beating drums that you cannot run the option game and win a national championship.

"Coach Osborne loved to throw it, I loved to throw it. Consequently, if we'd have made that change prior to winning the national championships, I don't know if things would be the same."

It was easy to question what looked like an outdated I-option offense that would bulldoze through the Big Eight, then fall on its face against the sleek, lithe, speedy athletes from the state of Florida.

From 1981 through 1995, Nebraska won at least a share of 10 of 15 Big Eight titles. In the same period, the Huskers lost 10 of 15 bowl games.

The adjustments -- "tweaking" Solich called it -- included recruiting faster players in the secondary. They also went from a 5-2 defensive alignment to a 4-3 that allowed for another linebacker to play pass defense or blitz.

The results have been dramatic. From 1976 to 1998, Nebraska produced two All-Americans in its secondary. Since 1999, the Huskers have had three -- Mike Brown, now a star for the Chicago Bears; Ralph Brown, a 2000 pick by the New York Giants; and current senior cornerback Keyuo Craver.

The I-option? It is still one of the hardest offenses to prepare for. Few teams run it; no team runs it as well as Nebraska. This year, quarterback Eric Crouch struck a blow for the option itself by winning the Heisman Trophy. He had more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (eight), but voters recognized his ability to be the Huskers' best runner as well.

"The style of offense we run, the quarterback is not protected," Darlington said. "He's part of the offense. Tom was one who never wanted to see anybody ever run out of bounds. That was his mentality."

Said Solich: "We have not changed just for the sake of changing. We have not necessarily gone with trends. When the run-and-shoot became big, we did not go with the run-and-shoot. If you can control the football and control the clock, I don't care what kind of offense you run, you can be successful."

Still, if Nebraska beats Miami, these Huskers would easily be the least-talented national championship bunch in Lincoln. There's no breakaway I-back. The offensive line is good but not great. Oh, and the defense is coming off giving up the most points in school history at Colorado.

But 18 years removed from a life-changing moment, it still has Osborne's resolve, even if it doesn't have Osborne.