1971 Orange Bowl

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. Late in the second quarter, LSU got a 36-yard field goal from Mark Lumpkin to cut the lead to 10–3 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 Lance Chaffee 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.[4][5][6][7]

Undefeated Nebraska (11–0–1) was named national champion in the final AP poll, released after the bowls in January.[9] With the narrow defeat, LSU (9–3) fell only two spots, from fifth to seventh, its last top-10 finish until finishing fifth in 1987. 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—which defeated LSU 3–0 at South Bend in November—in the Cotton Bowl on New Year's Day.

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, installing AstroTurf at Memorial Stadium in 1970 and playing six home games that season, as well a road game on turf vs. Kansas. Meanwhile, LSU played its first game ever on artificial turf when it defeated Alabama at Legion Field in Birmingham in its seventh game of 1970.

Nebraska did not lose a game on turf until falling 17–14 to Oklahoma in its 1972 regular season finale.

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 at midnight Eastern Standard Time 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.[10] (The very last tobacco advertisement on network TV, for Virginia Slims, was shown at 11:59 p.m. during a break on The Tonight Show).[11]

The teams next met in the 1975 season opener at Lincoln, with the Cornhuskers prevailing 10–7. In the 1976 season opener at Baton Rouge, the top-ranked Cornhuskers escaped with a 6–6 tie after LSU's Mike Conway missed a 44-yard field goal in the closing seconds.

Nebraska won three bowl meetings vs. LSU in the 1980s: the 1983 Orange Bowl, 1985 Sugar Bowl and 1987 Sugar Bowl.

• You Tube - 1971 Orange Bowl - NBC telecast