The 2006 Orange Bowl, a 2005–06 BCS game, was played on January 3, 2006. This 72nd edition to the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

featured the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Florida State Seminoles. This game was known for being the eighth, and ultimately final meeting, between the two coaches,

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions from 1966 to 2 ...

of Penn State and

Bobby Bowden Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college ...

of Florida State, the two winningest D1 FBS coaches in history.

Overtime summary

The three-overtime game took over four hours. It is regarded as one of the more entertaining Orange Bowls due to the high excitement level and some key missed kicks. Florida State started on offense to begin the first overtime. Kicker Gary Cismesia's 44-yard attempt went wide right. Penn State conservatively rushed three times and attempted a 38-yard field goal on their first overtime drive. However, kicker Kevin Kelly's try pushed wide left. In the second overtime, both team scored on 1-yard touchdown runs tying the game at 23–23. In the third overtime, Florida State's kicking woes continued. Cismesia's 38-yard attempt hit the right upright. On 2nd and 9 on the 12-yard line, Kelly hit a 29-yard field goal to give Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions the win over Bobby Bowden and the Seminoles.

Scoring summary

Aftermath

Florida State had a rough season for their standards having lost four games going into their ACC Championship game against Virginia Tech. They were solid underdogs (2 TD) and still found a way to upset the Hokies in the first ever ACC title game. Penn State was one play away from an undefeated season albeit both USC and Texas likely would have still played for the BCS title that season. The Nittany Lions finished third in the final AP Poll, a ranking they have not reached since (entering 2020).

References

External links

2006 Orange Bowl page on ESPN

Orange Bowl Florida State Seminoles football bowl games Penn State Nittany Lions football bowl games January 2006 sports events in the United States 2006 in sports in Florida 2000s in Miami {{Florida-sport-stub