1971 Orange Bowl

1971 Orange Bowl
LSU Tigers Nebraska Cornhuskers
(9–2) (10–0–1)
SEC Big Eight
12 17
Head coach: 
Charles McClendon		 Head coach: 
Bob Devaney
APCoaches
56
APCoaches
33
1234 Total
LSU 0390 12
Nebraska 10007 17
Date January 1, 1971
Season 1970
Stadium Orange Bowl
Location Miami, Florida
MVP QB Jerry Tagge
DE Willie Harper
Favorite Nebraska by 7 points[1]
Referee Vance Carlson (Big Eight)
(split crew between
Big Eight and SEC)
United States TV coverage
Network NBC
Announcers Jim Simpson and Al DeRogatis

The 1971 Orange Bowl featured the third-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers, champions of the Big Eight Conference, and the fifth-ranked LSU Tigers, champions of the Southeastern Conference.

Earlier on New Year's Day, the two top-ranked teams lost their bowl games: #1 Texas in the Cotton Bowl and #2 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.[2] The Huskers were aware when they took the field that night that they could claim the top ranking in the AP writers poll with a victory. An LSU victory would likely have given Notre Dame the national title.

Teams

LSU

Nebraska

Scoring

Paul Rogers kicked a 25-yard field goal for Nebraska to take an early 3–0 lead. Joe Orduna scored on a 3-yard touchdown run, as Nebraska extended its lead to 10–0. In the second quarter, LSU got a 36-yard field goal to cut the lead to 10–3, the score at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Tigers added a 25-yard field goal to make it 10–6. On the final play of the third quarter, Buddy Lee threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Al Coffee to put LSU ahead 12–10. The Huskers then drove 67 yards and quarterback Jerry Tagge scored from a yard out with 8:50 remaining; it was the game's last scoring play and gave Nebraska the 17–12 win.[3][4][5]

National champions

Undefeated Nebraska (11–0–1) was named national champion in the final AP poll, released after the bowls in January.[6] With the narrow defeat, LSU (9–3) fell only two spots, from fifth to seventh. The UPI coaches poll was released in early December (before the bowls) through the 1973 season; it had Texas as first, as it did not consider their 24–11 loss to Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day.

Artificial turf

This was the first Orange Bowl played on artificial turf, on Poly-Turf, a competitor to AstroTurf. Super Bowl V, the first on artificial turf, was played on the same field on January 17. It was installed prior to the 1970 season and lasted just two years, and its replacement for four more. It was removed shortly after Super Bowl X, played in January 1976.

Nebraska had a distinct advantage on the artificial surface, since it had installed AstroTurf at Memorial Stadium in 1970 and played six home games that season, as well as road games on turf at Colorado and Kansas. LSU, on the other hand, played its first game ever on artificial turf when it defeated Alabama at Legion Field in Birmingham in its seventh game of 1970.

Cigarette advertising

In April 1970, Congress passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act banning the advertising of cigarettes on television and radio; in order to allow the New Year's Day football games to keep their already-sold cigarette ads, the prohibition was set to begin on January 2, 1971. Airing in prime time on the East Coast, the 1971 Orange Bowl thus became the last televised sporting event to carry cigarette ads, the final one (for Winston) airing at 10:54 p.m.[7] (The very last tobacco advertisement, for Virginia Slims, was shown at 11:59 p.m. during a break on The Tonight Show).[8]

Video

  • You Tube - 1971 Orange Bowl - NBC telecast

References

  1. ↑ "Huskers, Steers favored". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. January 1, 1971. p. 13.
  2. ↑ Jenkins, Dan (January 11, 1971). "The one-day season". Sports Illustrated. p. 10.
  3. ↑ "Nebraska claims national crown after Orange Bowl victory". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). January 2, 1971. p. 1B.
  4. ↑ "Devaney wants top spot after victory over LSU". Milwaukee Journal. press dispatches. January 2, 1971. p. 15.
  5. ↑ HuskerPedia.com - 1971 Orange Bowl
  6. ↑ Thomas, Ben (January 5, 1971). "Nebraska wins the vote as nation's best college club". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. p. 3B. ,
  7. ↑ http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/LIBRARY/studies/nc/nc2b.htm
  8. ↑ "Cigarette Commercials Ended With $1M Fling," The News (Frederick, Md.), January 2, 1972, p1
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