The 1979 Orange Bowl was the 45th edition of the

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, 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 ...

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, on Monday, January 1. Part of the 1978–79 bowl game season, it matched the fourth-ranked

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the college athletics in the United States , athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman, Oklahoma, Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to ...

and #6

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 ...

, both of the

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. This matchup was an anomaly: 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, their first win in the

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since the Game of the Century and appeared headed toward a national championship showdown with

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. But unranked

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stunned the #2 Huskers 35–31 in Lincoln the following dropping Nebraska into a tie with Oklahoma for the Big Eight championship and knocking them out of the national championship Penn State instead faced

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for the national title in the

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, 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 This was the last time a non-championship postseason bowl featured two teams from the same conference until the

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season at the Arizona Bowl, 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.

Teams

Oklahoma

Nebraska

Game summary

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scored first on a 21-yard touchdown pass from Tom Sorley to Tim Smith for a 7–0 lead. Oklahoma tied the score on a 3-yard scamper by

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winner

Billy Sims Billy Ray Sims (born September 18, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for five seasons with the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) from 1980 to 1984. Sims played college football fo ...

, and then went ahead in the second quarter when quarterback Thomas Lott scored on a three-yard run, and took the 14–7 lead into halftime. The revenge-minded Sooners then took control. In the third quarter, Sims scored again an eleven-yard run. Field goals were traded, then Lott scored from two yards out, increasing Oklahoma's lead to 31–10. Nebraska rallied late, with Rick Berns scoring on a one-yard run, and then Sorley threw a two-yard strike to tight end Junior Miller as time expired. Oklahoma prevailed to finish at avenging its only loss of the season. The game was televised by

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and the traditional halftime Festival of Lights show was a tribute to "the greatest entertainment phenomenon in America in 1978:

Disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

!" Besides dancing to recorded disco songs, there was an appearance by

KC and the Sunshine Band KC and the Sunshine Band is an American disco and funk band that was founded in 1973 in Hialeah, Florida. Their best-known songs include the hits " Get Down Tonight", " That's the Way (I Like It)", "⁠ (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", ...

Scoring

;First quarter: *Nebraska – Tim Smith 21-yard pass from Tom Sorley (Billy Todd kick), 8:29 *Oklahoma –

3-yard run ( Uwe von Schamann kick), 0:01 ;Second quarter: *Oklahoma – Thomas Lott 3-yard run (von Schamann kick), 6:22 ;Third quarter: *Oklahoma – Sims 11-yard run (von Schamann kick), 13:30 *Oklahoma – von Schamann 26-yard field goal, 9:18 *Nebraska – Todd 31-yard field goal, 4:24 *Oklahoma – Lott 2-yard run (von Schamann kick), 0:15 ;Fourth quarter: *Nebraska – Rick Berns 1-yard run (Todd kick), 9:12 *Nebraska – Junior Miller 2-yard pass from Sorley (Todd kick), 0:00 :

Statistics

: :

Aftermath

Oklahoma (11–1) climbed to third in the final AP poll and Nebraska (9–3) fell to eighth.

References

External links

*http://www.huskerpedia.com/games/1978/12oklahoma.html {{Oklahoma Sooners bowl game navbox

Orange Bowl Nebraska Cornhuskers football bowl games Oklahoma Sooners football bowl games January 1979 sports events in the United States

American football competitions in Miami