1976 Fiesta Bowl
American college football game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1976 Fiesta Bowl was the sixth edition of the college football bowl game, played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona on Saturday, December 25. Part of the 1976–77 bowl game season, it matched the eighth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners of the Big Eight Conference and the unranked Wyoming Cowboys of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Heavily favored Oklahoma won in a rout, 41–7.[2][3][4]
| 1976 Fiesta Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6th Fiesta Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, hosted the Fiesta Bowl. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | December 25, 1976 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1976 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Sun Devil Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Tempe, Arizona | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Thomas Lott (Oklahoma QB) Terry Peters (Oklahoma CB) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Oklahoma by 21 points[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 48,714 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | CBS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Lindsey Nelson and Paul Hornung | ||||||||||||||||||||
This was the first of four consecutive Fiesta Bowls played on Christmas Day.
Teams
This was the first Fiesta Bowl appearance for each. Both teams' offenses ran out of the wishbone formation.[1][5][6]
Oklahoma
Oklahoma was co-champion of the Big Eight Conference for the fifth straight year. They tied Texas and lost to the other co-champions, Oklahoma State and Colorado: CU went to the Orange Bowl and OSU played in the Tangerine Bowl.
Wyoming
Wyoming was co-champion of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and was making their first bowl appearance in nine years, since the 1968 Sugar Bowl. It was the Cowboys' first winning season since 1969.
Game summary
This was the only game of the day, and kicked off shortly after 1 p.m. MST on CBS.[1]
Elvis Peacock started the beating with a touchdown run early in the game and Horace Ivory added in his touchdown run to make it 14–0 after the first quarter. Two Uwe von Schamann field goals made it 20–0 at halftime.
Oklahoma scored three more times in the second half on Peacock, George Cumby, and Woodie Shephard touchdowns. Narrowly avoiding a shutout, Cowboy fullback Robbie Wright scored in the final half-minute to cap a 92-yard drive and make the final score 41–7. This was the biggest margin of victory in the Fiesta Bowl until 1996.[7]
Sooner quarterback Thomas Lott was the offensive MVP and cornerback Terry Peters took the defensive honor.
Scoring
First quarter
- Oklahoma – Elvis Peacock 3-yard run (Uwe von Schamann kick)
- Oklahoma – Horace Ivory 4-yard run (von Schamann kick)
Second quarter
- Oklahoma – von Schamann 32-yard field goal
- Oklahoma – von Schamann 50-yard field goal
Third quarter
- Oklahoma – Peacock 15-yard run (von Schamann kick)
Fourth quarter
- Oklahoma – George Cumby 4-yard run (von Schamann kick)
- Oklahoma – Woodie Shephard 8-yard run (von Schamann kick)
- Wyoming – Robbie Wright 1-yard run (Dan Christopulos kick)
Statistics
Aftermath
Oklahoma climbed to fifth in the final AP poll. The Sooners returned to the Fiesta Bowl six years later; through 2026, this is Wyoming's only appearance.