The 1971 Orange Bowl was the 37th 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

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, on Friday, January 1. Part of the 1970–71 bowl season, it matched the third-ranked

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding t ...

, champions of the

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate ...

, and the #5

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers (also known as the Fighting Tigers) are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in Division I of the National Collegiat ...

, champions of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC). Earlier on

New Year's Day In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day is the first day of the calendar year, January 1, 1 January. Most solar calendars, such as the Gregorian and Julian calendars, begin the year regularly at or near the December solstice, northern winter ...

, the two top-ranked teams lost their bowl games: #1

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

in the and #2

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

in the The Huskers were aware when they took the field that night that they could claim the top ranking in the AP writers poll with a victory. An LSU victory would likely have given Notre Dame the national title. Ahead early, Nebraska rallied in the fourth quarter to win 17–12, capturing their first-ever National Championship.

Teams

LSU

Nebraska

Game summary

Paul Rogers kicked a 25-yard field goal for Nebraska to take an early lead. Joe Orduna scored on a three-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 at halftime. In the third quarter, Lumpkin added a 25-yard field goal to make On the final play of the third quarter, Buddy Lee threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Al Coffee to put LSU ahead 12–10. The Huskers then drove 67 yards and quarterback

Jerry Tagge Jerry Lee Tagge (born April 12, 1950) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL), World Football League (WFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football ...

scored from a yard out with 8:50 remaining; it was the game's last scoring play and gave Nebraska the

Scoring

;First quarter: *Nebraska – Paul Rogers 26-yard field goal, 2:40 *Nebraska – Joe Orduna 3-yard run (Rogers kick), 2:06 ;Second quarter: *LSU – Mark Lumpkin 36-yard field goal, 0:49 ;Third quarter: *LSU – Lumpkin 25-yard field goal, 11:49 *LSU – Al Coffee 31-yard pass from Buddy Lee (kick failed), 0:00 ;Fourth quarter: *Nebraska –

1-yard run (Rogers kick), 8:50 :

Statistics

: :

National champions

Undefeated Nebraska (11–0–1) was named national champion in the final AP poll, released after the bowls 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 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

. The UPI coaches poll was released in early December (before the bowls) through the

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

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

Cigarette advertising

In April 1970, Congress passed the

Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act is a 1970 federal law in the United States designed to limit the practice of tobacco smoking. As approved by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Richard Nixon, the act required a str ...

banning the advertising of cigarettes on

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

and

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

; 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 The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behind ...

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. (The last tobacco advertisement on network TV, for

Virginia Slims Virginia Slims is an American brand of cigarettes owned by Altria. It is manufactured by Philip Morris USA (in the United States) and Philip Morris International (outside the United States). Virginia Slims are narrower ( circumference) than stan ...

, was shown at 11:59 p.m. during a break on ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

'')."Cigarette Commercials Ended With $1M Fling," ''The News'' (Frederick, Md.), January 2, 1972, p1

Future meetings

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.

Video

You Tube
- 1971 Orange Bowl - NBC telecast

References

{{Nebraska Cornhuskers bowl game navbox

Orange Bowl LSU Tigers football bowl games Nebraska Cornhuskers football bowl games Orange Bowl, 1971 January 1971 sports events in the United States American football competitions in Miami