The reason everyone refers to Shane Falco's meltdown in the 1996 Sugar Bowl is because there was no game in 1996. This made it easy to avoid having issues with a real player or team. The Sugar Bowl after the 1995 season was played on 12/31/95 (V-Tech def. Texas) and after the 1996 season on 1/2/97 (Florida def. Florida State).
The Washington team is loosely based on the 1987 replacement Washington Redskins, who won all three of their "replacement" games. The "real" Redskins returned for Week 7 through to the Super Bowl, which they also won. After winning the Super Bowl, the franchise rarely if ever gave the replacement players any credit for the team's success. When the Redskins players received their Super Bowl rings, none of the replacement players received a ring even though it was said that had they not won their games, the team may not have made the playoffs let alone win the Super Bowl. However, after 30 years, it was announced in March 2018 that the Redskins are finally going to recognize the replacement players' contribution and finally give them their Super Bowl rings.
Fumiko's war cry, "Nan desu ka!" in Japanese actually means "What is this?"