Billy Sims(Oklahoma HB) Reggie Kinlaw (Oklahoma NG)
Favorite
Oklahoma by 11½ points [1]
Referee
Ken Faulkner (SWC)
Attendance
66,365
United States TV coverage
Network
NBC
Announcers
Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen
Orange Bowl
< 1978
1980 >
The 1979 Orange Bowl was the 45th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on Monday, January 1. Part of the 1978–79 bowl game season, it matched the fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners and #6 Nebraska Cornhuskers, both of the Big Eight Conference.[2][3][4]
This matchup was something of an anomaly, as it featured a rare rematch of conference rivals that played every regular season. Nebraska had upset #1 Oklahoma 17–14 on November 11 in Lincoln,[5] their first win in the rivalry since the Game of the Century in 1971,[6] and appeared headed towards a national championship showdown with Penn State. But unranked Missouri (6–4) then stunned the #2 Huskers 35–31 in Lincoln the following week,[7] dropping Nebraska into a tie with Oklahoma for the Big Eight championship and knocking them out of the national championship picture.[8][9]
Penn State instead faced Alabama for the national title in the Sugar Bowl, and the Orange Bowl found itself with a selection dilemma. Nebraska earned the Big Eight's automatic Orange Bowl berth by virtue of its victory over the Sooners, but, with Penn State and Notre Dame (which accepted an invitation to the Cotton Bowl) off the board, the Orange Bowl committee decided to set up a bowl rematch with Oklahoma to create the best possible matchup.[8][9] This was the last time a non-championship postseason bowl featured two teams from the same conference until the 2015 season at the Arizona Bowl,[10] and remains (as of 2019) the last non-championship bowl to be a rematch of a regular-season conference game.
Despite the road loss to the Huskers in the regular season, Oklahoma was a double-digit favorite.[1]
^ ab"The Latest Line". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. January 1, 1979. p. 34.
^"Oklahoma takes Big 8 rematch". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 2, 1979. p. 15.
^"Oklahoma feels it's No. 1 after avenging only loss". Pittsburgh Press. UPI. January 2, 1979. p. B5.
^Putnam, Pat (January 8, 1979). "Orange Bowl". Sports Illustrated. p. 14.
^Looney, Douglas S. (November 20, 1978). "Nebraska was on the loose". Sports Illustrated. p. 22.
^"Grid frustration ends in Huskers' triumph". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. November 12, 1978. p. C4.
^"Powers' Tigers upset Nebraska". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. November 19, 1978. p. 5B.
^ ab"Orange Bowl lands Nebraska, Oklahoma". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. (Florida). UPI. November 19, 1978. p. 1C.
^ ab"Bowl roundup". Sunday Star-News. (Wilmington, North Carolina). Associated Press. November 19, 1978. p. 1C.
^Lyell, Kelly (December 6, 2015). "Colorado State heads to Arizona Bowl to face MW foe Nevada". Fort Collins Coloradoan. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
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