1974 Orange Bowl

1974 Orange Bowl
Penn State Nittany Lions	LSU Tigers
(11–0)	(9–2)
16	9
Head coach: ; Joe Paterno	Head coach: ; Charles McClendon
AP	Coaches
6	5
AP	Coaches
13	14
Date	January 1, 1974
Season	1973
Stadium	Orange Bowl
Location	Miami, Florida
MVP	QB Tom Shuman (Penn State); DT Randy Crowder (Penn State)
Favorite	Penn State by 5 points[1]
Referee	James M. Artley (SEC); (split crew: SEC and ECAC)
Attendance	60,477
United States TV coverage
Network	NBC
Announcers	Jim Simpson and Kyle Rote

The 1974 Orange Bowl took place on January 1, 1974, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It featured the LSU Tigers of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the independent Penn State Nittany Lions.[1][2]

Teams

LSU

The Tigers won their first nine games of the season and seemed to be heading to a SEC title when they lost to Alabama, 21–7, at home. A loss to Tulane the following week, the first victory for the Green Wave over the Tigers since 1948 (LSU was 22–0–2 vs. its in-state rival in between), only added to the frustration in Baton Rouge.

LSU's mowt recent appearance at the Orange Bowl was three years earlier in January 1971, a 17–12 loss to national champion Nebraska. The Tigers won this bowl game in January 1962, 25–7 over Colorado in the final game for Paul Dietzel as LSU head coach.

Penn State

Penn State, which completed its third perfect regular season since 1968, had their first Heisman Trophy winner with running back John Cappelletti. The Nittany Lions were aiming to end 1973 the same way they did 1968 and 1969, by winning in Miami. The Lions nipped Kansas 15–14 in the 1969 Orange Bowl and stymied Missouri 10–3 the next year.

Game summary

Steve Rogers gave LSU an early lead on his touchdown run, but Penn State responded with a field goal by Chris Bahr by the end of the first quarter to make it 7–3. Early in the second quarter, Chuck Herd caught a 72 yard pass from Tom Shuman for a touchdown to give the Nittany Lions a lead they did not relinquish as Penn State added on with a Cappelletti run to have a 16–7 halftime lead. The only scoring in the second half came on a safety as the Tigers could not muster up points despite out-gaining the Nittany Lions by over 90 yards.[1][3]

The game's halftime show was a musical salute to Walt Disney Productions' 50th anniversary, and served as the conclusion to the company's year-long "50 Happy Years" promotion.[4]

Aftermath

The Tigers did not finish higher than third in the SEC until 1982, which resulted in them gaining smaller bowl invites during that time. LSU stumbled to 5–5–1 in 1974 and 4–7 in 1975, its only non-winning seasons during Charles McClendon's 18-year tenure in Baton Rouge (1962–79).

LSU has played in the Orange Bowl only once since, losing 21-20 to Nebraska in 1983, the Tigers' second loss to the Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl, and the first of three losses in major bowl games between the teams over five seasons.

With the win, the Nittany Lions were 12–0 and had their third undefeated season in six years. However, they finished fifth in the final Associated Press poll behind Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ohio State, and Alabama.

Penn State's next appearance in the Orange Bowl was in 1986, when the top-ranked Nittany Lions lost 25-10 to Oklahoma, costing Penn State the national championship and allowing the Sooners to finish No. 1.

LSU and Penn State did not meet again until the 2010 Capital One Bowl, won by the Nittany Lions, 19–17. in what turned out to be Paterno's last bowl victory. He was fired in November 2011 in the wake of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal centering on former Nittany Lion assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, and died January 22, 2012.

Statistics

Statistics	PSU	LSU
First Downs	9	18
Yards Rushing	28	205
Yards Passing	157	69
Total Yards	185	274
Punts-Average	7-34.7	8-46.8
Fumbles-Lost	1-0	3-1
Interceptions	1	1
Penalties-Yards	3-37	3-30

Source:[2]

References

"Lions dump LSU, 16-9 in Orange". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). UPI. January 2, 1974. p. 15.
"Lions 'catch' LSU". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. (Florida). Associated Press. January 2, 1974. p. 4B.
http://game.orangebowl.org/orange-bowl-history/the-history-of-the-orange-bowl/1970s/1974/
Fanning, Jim (October 16, 2018). "Did You Know? Eight Golden Anniversary Facts About Disney's 50 Happy Years Celebration". D23. D23.com. Retrieved February 9, 2019.

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[ldmplsu-1] "Lions dump LSU, 16-9 in Orange". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). UPI. January 2, 1974. p. 15.

[lclsu-2] "Lions 'catch' LSU". Daytona Beach Morning Journal. (Florida). Associated Press. January 2, 1974. p. 4B.

[3] ttp://game.orangebowl.org/orange-bowl-history/the-history-of-the-orange-bowl/1970s/1974/

[4] Fanning, Jim (October 16, 2018). "Did You Know? Eight Golden Anniversary Facts About Disney's 50 Happy Years Celebration". D23. D23.com. Retrieved February 9, 2019.

Orange Bowl Game
History & conference tie-ins	History Miami Orange Bowl Hard Rock Stadium College Football Playoff Broadcasters Atlantic Coast Conference Big Ten Conference Southeastern Conference Notre Dame
Games	1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 (January) 1996 (December) 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 (January) 2014 (December) 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Notes	The game was also the national title game for either the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, or Bowl Championship Series in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2001, and 2005. There was an Orange Bowl in January and December in 1996 and 2014. The 2015 and 2018 editions were College Football Playoff semifinals. The next edition to be a CFP semifinal will be in 2021.