Awaiting the team at the hotel was a case of champagne.
It had been sent down to Miami from somebody in Lincoln, according to Bob Devaney.
"The last time we were down here (1966 Orange Bowl), we had the champagne waiting, too," the football coach said, referring to a 39-28 loss to Alabama. "We drank it then, but it didn't taste very good."
This time was different.
No, this wasn't a celebration of a new year. This was a toast to a 17-12 comeback win against LSU in the Orange Bowl.
To an unbeaten season.
To a national championship.
The first national championship.
"Do you believe this?!" defensive back Dave Morock asked. "No. 1!"
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Nebraska's path to No. 1 took a few twists and turns on New Year's Day 50 years ago. The Huskers woke up that Friday morning as the No. 3 team in the country.
Texas, the top-ranked team in the country, was in its backyard that day set to play No. 6 Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. About 1,500 miles away in Pasadena was the country's No. 2 team, Ohio State. Woody Hayes' Buckeyes were prepping to play Stanford on a sun-splashed California afternoon.
The Cornhuskers, who had accepted an Orange Bowl invite before the regular-season final against Oklahoma, had their own challenge — a toss-up meeting with No. 5 LSU (NU was a slight favorite) in prime time.
The three games were staggered throughout the day.
The Longhorns were aiming for their second straight national championship. But Notre Dame, behind a new wrinkle on defense, handcuffed Texas, 24-11.
The ball was in Ohio State's court.
Called one of the greatest upsets in 57 Rose Bowls, quarterback Jim Plunkett and 10-point underdog Stanford rallied with two fourth-quarter touchdowns to win 27-17.
"Ohio State, like Humpty Dumpty, had a great fall," the first line of a story from the Chicago Daily News read the next morning.
No. 1 had lost. No. 2 had lost. No. 3 was still going through stretching and warmup drills.
"We didn't know the final of the Rose Bowl, but Fox (NU sports information director Don Bryant) kept checking the score for us because (defensive assistant) Monte Kiffin wanted to know," said linebacker Jerry Murtaugh, a co-captain.
"The players were very elated that there was another door open," Devaney said after the Orange Bowl.
But LSU, like Notre Dame and Stanford that day, came to play.
Nebraska, playing in its first game since Nov. 21, was flagged six times for illegal procedures or offsides. The Cornhuskers held the Tigers to minus-45 yards rushing in the first half.
And yet, LSU shot a wave of nervous energy across a snow-covered Cornhusker State when it took a 12-10 lead on the final play of the third quarter.
"It was beginning to look like maybe we should have stayed at home," Devaney said after the game. "But I didn't feel it was the end of the game when LSU scored."
Devaney's gut feeling was spot on. Nebraska responded with a 13-play, 67-yard scoring drive, and it was capped by one of the most picturesque images in Husker football lore — Jerry Tagge's sneak over the top of the right guard for a 1-yard TD.
The game only got more intense.
Nebraska, driving deep into Tiger territory after a partially blocked punt, had a chance to put the game on ice, but Joe Orduna fumbled at the LSU 12-yard line with 4 minutes, 9 seconds remaining.
Thank goodness, Nebraska had Willie Harper in its corner.
The 6-foot-2 sophomore, one of the many gems on Nebraska's defensive line, swiped the ball away from LSU quarterback Bert Jones near midfield.
Ballgame? Not quite.
LSU recovered another Nebraska fumble with 52 ticks remaining. A play later, however, Nebraska linebacker Bob Terrio picked off a pass.
Tagge took two knees. Ballgame.
"The Cornhusker locker room was sheer delirium," the sixth paragraph read in the next day's Lincoln Evening Journal.
Devaney's bunch and an entire state had to wait, though. The final Associated Press Top 25 poll was not set to be released until Jan. 5, four days after the final results. That didn't stop the Cornhuskers from making a logical case.
"Even the pope would have to vote us No. 1," Devaney famously said to a question about if Notre Dame might get the nod after knocking off Texas.
If the Cornhuskers didn't have the pope's blessing, they had one from LSU coach Charlie McClendon. His Tigers lost to Notre Dame 3-0 on Nov. 21.
"In my mind, there's no double who's No. 1, it's Nebraska," he said after the Orange Bowl. "We played them both, lost to them both. Nebraska is No. 1."
Still, Devaney, the players and a state full of buzzing, passionate fans had to patiently wait.
From the Jan. 5 Lincoln newspaper:
"Calls to the newspaper were coming in about one every five minutes for a good part of the morning (on Tuesday). On hearing the poll results, the callers either heaved a big sigh of relief or shouted their jubilation."
When the final poll came out, 39 AP voters gave their vote to Nebraska. Eight went to Notre Dame, three went to Texas and two went to 11-0 Arizona State, which finished ranked No. 6.
The top five: 1. Nebraska; 2. Notre Dame; 3. Texas; 4. Tennessee; 5. Ohio State.
The Cornhuskers were crowned national champions.
"I was worried, especially after hearing (Notre Dame coach) Ara Parseghian's comments," Tagge said after it was official. "He was really pushing and Notre Dame has a lot of power in the press."
Nebraska has played in 27 New Year's Day bowls, 21 since the 1971 Orange Bowl. Four more national titles followed, including two others celebrated on Jan. 1.
But none were as wild, or as important, as Jan. 1, 1971.
"It changed a lot of things because it put Nebraska up a step that it had never been before," Don Bryant told the Journal Star many years later. "Our mailings increased. Interview requests went way up. People were calling and asking for interviews with our All-American candidates.
"And, unknown to all of us, it was the start of the most remarkable run of success in football anybody could imagine."
Champagne never tasted better.