No. 12 Florida State 31, No. 15 Northern Illinois 10
Five consecutive bowl victories
Florida State has won five consecutive bowl games for the first time since the heyday of the Bobby Bowden era. FSU won 11 bowls in a row from 1985 until getting blown out by Florida on Jan. 2, 1997 in the Sugar Bowl. From that season until the start of the current streak, which began in 2008, the program acknowledges four bowl victories and a 4-7 bowl record.
Its most recent defeat came to Kentucky in the Music City Bowl in 2007 when FSU was forced to play without 34 players, mostly suspended because of an academic cheating scandal.
Prior to the 11-game bowl winning streak, which started with a Gator Bowl victory over Oklahoma State in 1985, FSU's program had just four bowl victories in its history: 1965 Gator Bowl, 1977 Tangerine Bowl, 1982 Gator Bowl and 1983 Peach Bowl.
Its first major bowl victory came in a 31-28 win over Nebraska in the 1988 Fiesta Bowl. Tuesday's win over Northern Illinois is FSU's 12th all-time victory in a major (BCS) bowl.
Pryor In Impressive Company
Lonnie Pryor's 60-yard touchdown run that gave FSU its first points in Tuesday night's Orange Bowl victory over Northern Illinois was the longest scoring run for the Seminoles in a bowl game in eight years. Leon Washington scored on a 69-yard burst in the Jan. 1, 2005 Gator Bowl vs. West Virginia.
The game's MVP, after running for 130 yards on four carries, Pryor also scored on a 37-yard run in the fourth quarter. His total was the second most by an FSU back in a bowl, also since Washington's 195-yard performance against the Mountaineers. Chris Thompson had 147 yards in a 26-17 win over South Carolina in the Chick-fil-A Bowl two years ago.
Pryor is the ninth FSU tailback to be named MVP of a victorious bowl game. Sammie Smith won the award twice. Other winners include Lorenzo Booker, Warrick Dunn, Sean Jackson, Greg Allen, Thompson and Washington.
E.J. Manuel wins fourth bowl game
Senior quarterback E.J. Manuel is in rare company notching his fourth bowl victory as the primary quarterback. Interestingly, he was a reserve as a freshman and sophomore, though he started six games those first two seasons because regular starter Christian Ponder suffered injuries.
Ponder, who is currently the starting signal caller for the Minnesota Vikings, wasn't available for the Gator Bowl on Jan. 1, 2010, and Manuel passed for 189 yards in a 33-21 win over West Virginia, earning MVP honors. Ponder started the Chick-fil-A Bowl the following season, but still wasn't healthy and was quickly relieved by Manuel, who helped guide the Seminoles to a 26-17 win over South Carolina. Manuel passed for 84 yard and ran for 46 that night.
Last year, Manuel passed for 249 yards and two scores in an 18-14 win over Notre Dame in the Champs Sports Bowl. On Tuesday, he completed 26-of-38 pass attempts for 291 yards and a touchdown.
In four bowl games, Manuel has completed 74-of-108 pass attempts (68.5 percent) for 813 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. He's also run for two scores.
