NEW YEAR’S DAY BOWL GAMES : Putting It All on the Line : Orange Bowl: Either Florida State or Nebraska will probably earn at least a share of national championship.

For the moment, Nebraska’s Tom Osborne and Florida State’s Bobby Bowden are linked by a single coincidence: Neither coach, despite their 444 combined victories, has won what Bowden mockingly calls “the big-un.” In layman’s terms, a national championship.

Tonight that changes. The winner of the Orange Bowl will probably walk away with at least half of a national title and, with it, a sense of relief. The long wait will be over and so will the prying.

“We’ve about beat this thing to death,” Osborne told reporters. “It means a lot to win a national championship. . . . OK, that knocks off one question.

“Two points? Yeah, I’ll do it again.”

Of course, the two-point question. The question that still haunts Osborne like Marley haunted Scrooge. No matter how hard Osborne tries, it won’t go away.

In 1984, at this same Orange Bowl, Osborne’s No. 1-ranked Cornhuskers cut Miami’s lead to 31-30 with 48 seconds to play in the New Year’s game. An extra point ties the score and, as it would have turned out, ensures Nebraska of a championship.

Osborne and his staff didn’t think twice about it. They wanted the victory.

Instead, they got heartache. Quarterback Turner Gill’s pass was knocked down, and that was that. Ten years later, Osborne is pestered by a game of what-ifs. He wants no part of it.

“People say, ‘defining moment,’ ” he said of the 1984 game. “It’s the latest catchword. I hope not. You do something for 30 years, you hope it doesn’t come down to one game.”

For Bowden, who is suffering from a cold, there is also the memory of the Hurricanes. Strange how one team could cost two coaches those lug-nut-sized championship rings.

Miami ended Florida State’s undefeated season in 1991 and again in ’92. In each of those games, the Seminoles were victims of field-goal attempts that slipped just out of reach of the right upright.

In 1988, the Seminoles lost one game. To Miami. The same thing happened in 1987. Like Osborne, Bowden had become a coach whose overall record was sometimes obscured by a single failure.

“As you go through your profession, especially when you get down to the end of your profession like I am,” said Bowden, 64, “you hate to have blurs. You hate to get this close to something and still have a stigma about you. A lot of it, my own personal thing, is to get that off.”

Yet, win or lose tonight, Bowden said he can live without holding the trophy above his head. In his mind, his career doesn’t need to be validated by a poll. “I don’t think that has anything to do with my coaching,” he said. “If someone’s going to put my career on one game, well, it goes deeper than that.”

But one game is what the Seminoles (11-1) and the Cornhuskers (11-0) are left with. Florida State has been made a 17-point favorite, a remarkable spread considering the rankings. Nebraska historians couldn’t remember the last time their team had been such an underdog. As expected, the Cornhuskers are rallying around the slight.

“Basically it’s our team against the rest of the world,” Nebraska linebacker Mike Anderson said.

All-American linebacker Trev Alberts added: “I feel somewhat disrespected.”

Wait until Alberts hears what Florida State cornerback Clifton Abraham had to say about the Cornhuskers. Asked to describe your typical Nebraska player, Abraham was happy to oblige.

“Big boy,” he said. “Probably drives an old pickup truck, a ‘76, a little rust. He’s not going to wear a suit. He’s going to wear overalls, probably a hat, straw in his mouth. Chewing his chaw.”

And a Cornhusker’s choice of music?

“Boxcar Willie,” Abraham said.

And teeth. Will a Cornhusker have all his teeth? “I’ll give him that,” Abraham said.

That’s about all the Seminoles are giving Nebraska these days. Even the usually diplomatic Charlie Ward, who is also nursing a cold, said the point spread should be adjusted only slightly.

“About seven,” the Florida State quarterback said.

Whatever the final score, the winner will earn at least half a national championship. As for the rest of it, who knows?

The most popular scenarios:

--No. 3 West Virginia (11-0) beats No. 8 Florida (10-2) in the Sugar Bowl.

A Mountaineer victory, combined with a Florida State victory would probably result in a split vote. West Virginia would win the coaches’ poll, the Seminoles would win the Associated Press voting.

Things get more interesting if West Virginia and Nebraska earn victories. Then what? Given the Cornhuskers’ standing and quality of opponent, they would probably win both polls.

--West Virginia loses to Florida, No. 4 Notre Dame (10-1) loses to No. 7 Texas A&M; (10-1), Nebraska loses to Florida State.

Dueling Bowdens? Not likely. Terry Bowden, who coached Auburn (currently on NCAA probation and ineligible for postseason play) to an undefeated season, would see his dad win both polls.

--Florida State wins, Notre Dame wins, West Virginia loses.

Hear that noise? That’s Irish Coach Lou Holtz rehearsing his closing arguments for a share of the national championship. Notre Dame beat Florida State during the regular season--not that Holtz will let anyone forget it if Scenario No. 3 takes place.

None of this bothers Bowden. All he wants is a victory, however ugly. “I’d take one point today and take my chances on you voters,” he said.

And then he paused.

“Excuse me . . . us voters. My mind’s made up.”