1964 Orange Bowl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 1964 Orange Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30th Orange Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | January 1, 1964 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1963 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Miami Orange Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Miami, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Auburn by 3[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Pat Haggerty (Big Eight) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 72,647 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ABC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Curt Gowdy, Paul Christman, Jim McKay | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 11.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||
The 1964 Orange Bowl was the thirtieth edition of the college football bowl game, played on January 1, 1964 at the Miami Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. Part of the 1963–64 bowl season, it featured the sixth-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers of the Big Eight Conference and the fifth-ranked Auburn Tigers of the SEC. In a game billed as a battle between Nebraska's strength and Auburn's speed, the Cornhuskers jumped out to an early lead and held on to win 13–7.
Nebraska
Nebraska won its first Big Eight title in over twenty years under second-year head coach Bob Devaney. The Cornhuskers entered 9–1, falling to Air Force before winning five consecutive games, including a 29–20 victory over sixth-ranked Oklahoma in a de facto conference championship game. NU was led by a strong offensive line and ground attack, which led the country in rushing at 263 yards per game.[2]
Nine Nebraska players had been selected in the 1964 NFL draft a month earlier, including No. 2 overall pick Bob Brown, but they were not permitted to meet with professional teams or discuss contracts until after the Orange Bowl.[3]
Auburn
Auburn finished second in the SEC, losing to Mississippi State before a strong season-ending stretch that included a 10–8 victory over rival Alabama. The team was led by quarterback Jimmy Sidle, the SEC's Player of the Year who finished second nationally with 1,006 rushing yards.[2] This was Auburn's first bowl appearance since 1955 and first Orange Bowl since 1938.