The 1960 Cotton Bowl Classic was the 24th
edition of the
college football
College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...
bowl game
In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...
, played at the
Cotton Bowl in
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, on Friday, January 1. Part of the
1959–60 bowl game season, it matched the
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
and
top-ranked Syracuse Orangemen and No. 4
Texas Longhorns
The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...
of the
Southwest Conference
The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...
(SWC). The favored Orangemen won, 23–14.
Teams
Syracuse
The Orangemen had just completed a perfect season for the first time in their history and were declared
national champions
National champions are corporations which are technically private businesses but due to governmental policy are ceded a dominant position in a national economy. In this system, these large organizations are expected not only to seek profit but als ...
by
both major polls. They were looking for their first win in the Cotton Bowl, having lost previously
three years earlier.
Texas
The Longhorns opened with eight wins and were co-champions of the Southwest Conference; after a late-season home loss to
rival
A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...
TCU TCU may stand for:
Education
* Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania
* Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas
** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school
* Tok ...
, they dropped from second to fourth in the rankings. This was the first Cotton Bowl appearance for third-year head coach
Darrell Royal
Darrell K Royal (July 6, 1924 – November 7, 2012) was an American college football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Mississippi State University from 1954 to 1955, the University of Washington ...
and the first for the Longhorns
in seven years.
Game summary
The longest touchdown pass in Cotton Bowl history happened in this game as Syracuse halfback
Gerhard Schwedes
Gerhard H. Schwedes (born April 23, 1938) is a German-American former professional football player who played two seasons in the American Football League (AFL) as a halfback with the Boston Patriots and New York Titans. He was born in Nazi Germ ...
threw an 87-yard pass to
Ernie Davis
Ernest R. Davis (December 14, 1939 – May 18, 1963) was an American college football player who was a halfback for the Syracuse Orangemen who won the Heisman Trophy in 1961. He was the award's first black recipient. Davis was selected firs ...
to give the Orangemen an early lead 1:13 into the game. Davis added in a touchdown run midway through the second quarter to extend the lead to 15–0 at halftime.
Jack Collins caught a 69-yard pass from
Bobby Lackey to narrow the lead 1:46 into the third quarter, but the conversion failed, making it only 15–6. While Texas was trying to narrow the lead, Davis intercepted a Lackey pass at the Texas 24. Three plays later Schwedes ran in for a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 23–6 after another conversion success. Lackey narrowed it to 23–14 on a touchdown run in the fourth quarter, but only 7:21 was left on the clock by then. From that point on, the two teams did not seriously threaten to score again as the game ended in a Syracuse win.
Scoring
First quarter
*SYR –
Ernie Davis
Ernest R. Davis (December 14, 1939 – May 18, 1963) was an American college football player who was a halfback for the Syracuse Orangemen who won the Heisman Trophy in 1961. He was the award's first black recipient. Davis was selected firs ...
87-yard pass from
Gerhard Schwedes
Gerhard H. Schwedes (born April 23, 1938) is a German-American former professional football player who played two seasons in the American Football League (AFL) as a halfback with the Boston Patriots and New York Titans. He was born in Nazi Germ ...
(Bob Yates kick)
Second quarter
*SYR – Davis 1-yard run (Davis pass from Dave Sarette)
Third quarter
*TEX – Jack Collins 69-yard pass from
Bobby Lackey (Rene Ramirez run failed)
*SYR – Schwedes 3-yard run (Davis pass from Sarette)
Fourth quarter
*TEX – Lackey 1-yard run (Richard Shulte pass from Lackey)
Statistics
:
:
[
]
References
External links
Cotton Bowl Classic
– January 1, 1960
{{Texas Longhorns bowl game navbox
Cotton Bowl Classic
The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937.
The game was originally played at its Cotton Bowl (stadium), namesake ...
Cotton Bowl Classic
Syracuse Orange football bowl games
Texas Longhorns football bowl games
Cotton Bowl Classic
The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937.
The game was originally played at its Cotton Bowl (stadium), namesake ...
Cotton Bowl