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The Bluegrass Bowl was a college football
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 ...
that was played only once, on December 13, 1958, at
Cardinal Stadium L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium, also known as L&N Stadium and formerly known as Cardinal Stadium and Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, is a football stadium located in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, on the southern end of the campus of the U ...
(later known as "Old Cardinal Stadium") in
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...
. The
Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National ...
defeated the
Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University (FSU) located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I, prima ...
, 15–6.


Background of the Bluegrass Bowl

Game organizers expected the Bluegrass Bowl to be an annual event in Louisville, starting with the 1958 contest. The first choices for the game were the
Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...
and the
Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...
, which went 5–4–1 in its first season under
Bear Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of ...
, who had previously coached at Kentucky for eight seasons. The Wildcats, who had received poor treatment from the Louisville crowd during a 51–0 win over at Cardinal Stadium in their season opener, turned down the bid, with the team's lettermen voting 18–12 against. Kentucky's players voting to turn down bowl bids was nothing new: they said no to the
Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, usually contested on or around New Year's Day. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first televise ...
in 1953, despite a 7–2–1 record in Bryant's final season in Lexington, and again in 1954 after going 7–3. Alabama also declined;
Oklahoma State Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...
and
Florida State Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...
accepted invitations. Bowl organizers successfully negotiated a national television contract with
American Broadcasting Company The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American Commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast Television broadcaster, television and radio Radio network, network that serves as the flagship property of the Disney Entertainment division ...
(ABC), with a blackout. At the time, ABC held only a secondary affiliation in Louisville with primary
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
affiliate
WHAS-TV WHAS-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on West Chestnut Street in Downtown Louisville, and its transmitter is located in rur ...
. A crowd of 15,000, less than half capacity, was expected for the inaugural game. Tickets were priced at $6.50 each, though due to unenthusiastic demand they were being sold for $1.50 on the day of the game. Parking cost 25 cents.


Game results


1958 Bluegrass Bowl

Oklahoma State entered the game ranked #19 in the AP Poll, while Florida State was unranked. Florida State was an independent with a 7–3 regular season record; Oklahoma State was also 7–3 as an independent, having left the
Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the fourth-oldest collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the Midwestern Unite ...
after the 1956 season and not joining 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 ...
until 1960. Florida State, in their final season under head coach
Tom Nugent Thomas N. Nugent (February 24, 1913 – January 19, 2006) was an American college football coach and innovator, sportscaster, public relations man. He served as the head football coach at the Virginia Military Institute, Florida State Universit ...
, made in their third bowl game. Oklahoma State, coached by
Cliff Speegle Clifton M. Speegle (November 4, 1917 – September 5, 1994) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater from 1955 to 1962, compiling a ...
, was appearing in its fourth bowl game. The game was played at
Cardinal Stadium L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium, also known as L&N Stadium and formerly known as Cardinal Stadium and Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, is a football stadium located in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, on the southern end of the campus of the U ...
on the grounds of the
Kentucky Exposition Center The Kentucky Exposition Center (KEC), is a large multi-use facility in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Originally built in 1956. It is overseen by the Kentucky Venues and is the sixth largest facility of its type in the U.S., with of indoor ...
, just behind
Freedom Hall Freedom Hall is a multi-purpose arena in Louisville, Kentucky, on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is owned by the Kentucky State Fair Board. It is best known for its use as a basketball arena, previously serving as the home ...
, where the
1958 NCAA University Division basketball tournament The 1958 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 24 schools playing in Single-elimination tournament, single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball in the United States. I ...
had been held in March. Kickoff was at 2:00 p.m., with a game time temperature of , and falling. The playing field was icy and slippery, causing the players to forego cleats and wear tennis shoes instead. The cold weather on top of the general indifference to the contest kept the attendance low; crowd estimates were in the 5,000–10,000 range, and many accounts state that just over 7,000 attended. In the first quarter, Florida State took two drives into Oklahoma State territory but missed 16 and 23-yard field goal attempts. Early in the second quarter, Oklahoma State halfback Duane Wood ran 17 yards for a score, putting the Cowboys up 7–0. Late in the second quarter, Oklahoma State again drove deep into Florida State territory, but on fourth-and-five, Florida State defender Ron Hinson stripped the ball from Oklahoma State's Forrest Campbell just a foot from the goal line. Florida State fumbled twice in the third quarter. Oklahoma State took the second fumble for a 10-play, 39-yard touchdown drive capped by another Duane Wood touchdown run. Wood then caught a pass for a
two-point conversion In gridiron football, a two-point conversion, two-point convert, or two-point attempt is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point conversion immediately after it scores a touchdown. In a two-point conversion attempt, the team that ...
to give Oklahoma State a 15–0 lead. Florida State scored a fourth-quarter touchdown without a successful conversion, giving Oklahoma State a 15–6 win.


Media coverage

ABC's coverage of the otherwise forgettable Bluegrass Bowl was notable for two reasons: it was the last broadcast of
Harry Wismer Harry Wismer (June 30, 1913 – December 4, 1967) was an American sports broadcaster and the charter owner of the New York Titans franchise in the American Football League (AFL). Early years Harry Wismer was born on June 30, 1913, in Port Hur ...
and the first national telecast to feature
Howard Cosell Howard William Cosell (; né Cohen; March 25, 1918 – April 23, 1995) was an American sports journalist, broadcaster and author. Cosell became prominent and influential during his tenure with ABC Sports from 1953 until 1985. Cosell was widel ...
. It was also the first-ever national broadcast of a Florida State football game. Due to the cold weather, the press covering the game deserted the windowless press box and all crowded into a single enclosed, heated room with windows for the game.


Aftermath

In January 1959, officials stated that paid attendance for the game was 3,152 with $18,132.50 of actual income. The Bluegrass Bowl organizers proclaimed the game a success despite the low attendance and stated that the game would be played again, but it was not. The 1959 edition had been scheduled for December 19, but was canceled on November 29 after Alabama and Kentucky both declined invitations, as they had done for the inaugural edition of the bowl. Alabama played in the
1959 Liberty Bowl The 1959 Liberty Bowl, part of the 1959 bowl game season, took place on December 19, 1959, at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the inaugural edition of the Liberty Bowl. The competing teams were the Alabama Cr ...
, while Kentucky, having finished the season with a losing record, did not play in a bowl game.


Statistics

;Scoring Summary *OSU - D. Wood 17 yd. run (J. Wood kick), 14:31 *OSU - D. Wood 1 yd. run (D. Wood pass from Soergel), :07 *FSU - Meyer 39 yd. pass from Majors (Prinzi run failed), 13:52 ;Statistics ;Individual Statistics ;Rushing ''Florida State'' *Pickard galloped 14 times for 44 yards. Vic Prinzi rushed 7 times for 30 yards. Renn ran 2 times for 13 yards. Majors went for 12 yards on 3 carries. Whitehead had just one yard on 1 carry. McCormack gained 0 yards on one try. ''Oklahoma State'' *Campbell rushed 26 times for 130 yards. D. Wood went for 81 yards on 17 carries for two touchdowns. Wiggins galloped 12 times for 59 yards. Banfield ran 7 times for 34 yards. Rundele had 3 carries for 7 yards. Sewell ran for 3 yards on 4 carries. Wagner had just 1 yard on his one carry. Cross and Soergel both lost yards on their only carries, the former losing 5 and the latter losing 12. ;Passing ''Florida State'' *Majors went 5 for 9 passing with a touchdown and interception each and 116 yards. Prinzi went 3 for 8 with 3 interceptions and 44 yards. McCormack went 1 for 4 passing with 25 yards. Lastly, Renn went 0 for 1 passing. ''Oklahoma State'' *Soergel went 6 for 12 passing with 1 interception and 77 yards. ;Receiving ''Florida State'' *Romeo had 3 catches for 62 yards. Espenship caught 2 passes for 22 yards. Renn received 2 catches for 48 yards. Meyer snatched 1 pass for 39 yards, which proved to be the only Seminole touchdown. Lastly, Pasqual had 1 catch for 14 yards. ''Oklahoma State'' *Wiggins had 2 catches for 38 yards. D. Wood caught 2 passes for 23 yards. Harkey received 1 catch for 7 yards. Lastly, J. Wood had 1 catch for 9 yards.


See also

*
History of Louisville, Kentucky The history of Louisville, Kentucky spans nearly two-and-a-half centuries since its founding in the late 18th century. The geology of the Ohio River, with but a single series of rapids midway in its length from the confluence of the Monongahela ...
*
List of college bowl games This is a list of college football bowl games, including those proposed and defunct. Six bowl games are part of the College Football Playoff, a selection system that creates bowl matchups involving twelve of the top-ranked teams in the NCAA Divis ...


References


Further reading

* * Rice, Russell, "The Wildcats: Kentucky Football", a book about
University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...
football history


External links


1958 Florida State vs Oklahoma State Bluegrass Bowl Edit
via
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{{Oklahoma State Cowboys bowl game navbox Defunct college football bowls 1958–59 NCAA football bowl games Florida State Seminoles football bowl games Oklahoma State Cowboys football bowl games American football competitions in Louisville, Kentucky December 1958 sports events in the United States 1958 in sports in Kentucky 1950s in Louisville, Kentucky