1974 Sugar Bowl

1974 Sugar Bowl
Nebraska Cornhuskers Florida Gators
(9–2) (8–3)
13 10
Head coach: 
Tom Osborne		 Head coach: 
Doug Dickey
APCoaches
87
APCoaches
1814
1234 Total
Nebraska 00013 13
Florida 7300 10
Date December 31, 1974
Season 1974
Stadium Tulane Stadium
Location New Orleans, Louisiana
MVP FB Tony Davis (Nebraska)
Favorite Nebraska by 13 points[1]
Attendance 68,890
United States TV coverage
Network ABC
Announcers Keith Jackson and Barry Switzer

The 1974 Sugar Bowl was a college football bowl game between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Florida Gators, held on December 31, 1974.[2][3] Played on New Year's Eve in New Orleans, this was the last Sugar Bowl played in Tulane Stadium; it moved to the new Louisiana Superdome the next year, then returned to January 1 in 1977.

Teams

Florida

Despite tying for fourth in the Southeastern Conference, Florida was invited to the Sugar Bowl on the basis of their early success, starting 7–1 and ranked sixth in early Novembert. But the Gators lost two of their last three games and were only #18 by the time of the bowl, and also the only team ranked in the bottom of the top 20 to appear in a major bowl game. SEC champion Alabama played in the Orange Bowl.

Nebraska

The Cornhuskers finished second in the Big Eight Conference for the third straight year, with a loss to ineligible Oklahoma to end the regular season. This was the second Sugar Bowl for both teams.[4]

Game summary

Tony Green scored first for Florida on a touchdown run in the first quarter on fourth and goal from the one. Florida added in a field goal in the second quarter to have a 10–0 lead. Nebraska decided to bench QB David Humm in the second half after four interceptions in favor of a running attack behind reserve Terry Luck.[2]

As the fourth quarter began, freshman Monte Anthony scored on a touchdown run to make it 10–7 that culminated a 99-yard drive on 18 plays. Nebraska was given a chance on their next drive, but a critical moment happened on fourth and two on the 49. Osborne decided to go for it, and Anthony ran for three yards for the first down. A few plays later, Nebraska tied the game on a Mike Coyle field goal with 7:12 remaining.

Florida could not concoct a drive and had to punt the ball back to the Huskers at the 25 with four minutes remaining. Nebraska went to work on a drive that covered less than two minutes and set up Coyle's kick from the Florida 29. With 2:22 remaining, Coyle kicked what turned out to be the game winning points as Nebraska held on to win their first Sugar Bowl. The running attack was evident in Nebraska as Anthony went 64 yards on fifteen carries for one touchdown while Tony Davis gained 126 yards on seventeen attempts.[2][5]

Aftermath

With the narrow win, Nebraska fell a spot in the final AP poll to ninth, while Florida moved up three spots to fifteenth.

Nebraska has played in two additional Sugar Bowls, in 1985 and 1987; Florida has returned seven times.

This was the sixth consecutive bowl win for the Huskers.[2]

Statistics

StatisticsNebraska  Florida  
First Downs1813
Yards Rushing304178
Yards Passing1697
Total Yards320275
Punts-Average4-37.06-32.5
Fumbles-Lost3-13-1
Interceptions41
Penalties-Yards1-175-41

References

  1. ↑ "Huskers tip Gators 13-10". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. January 1, 1975. p. 1B.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Shearer, Ed (January 1, 1975). "Crunching 'Huskers rub out Gators". St. Petersburg Times. (Florida). Associated Press. p. 1C.
  3. ↑ "Nebraska tips Florida with field goal". Milwaukee Sentinel. UPI. January 1, 1975. p. 1, part 2.
  4. ↑ http://www.allstatesugarbowl.org/site437.php
  5. ↑ http://www.allstatesugarbowl.org/site121.php
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