Cotton Bowl
1964
Texas 28
Navy 6
The pregame furor was over which team deserved the No. 1 ranking. Texas, with a perfect 10-0-0 record, was ranked No. 1 in the final regular-season rankings. Navy was just a step behind the Longhorns at No. 2 with a 9-1-0 mark. In addition to the lofty rankings involved, Navy also boasted the 1963 Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Roger Staubach.
The Eastern press had proclaimed for weeks that Navy, not Texas, was the nation’s best even. In spite of the fact that it would be Navy's second visit to the Cotton Bowl that season. The Middies, who finished 9-1 for the regular season, lost their only game on the same turf, 32-28 to Southern Methodist.
Texas won the toss, elected to
receive and on the game’s sixth play Carlisle went for the bomb. The
target was 18-year old Phil Harris, the youngest man on the field,
flying down the left sideline. Harris grabbed the pass at the Navy 45
and galloped into the end zone. The play covered 58 yards and it marked
the eighth time in 11 games that season that Texas had scored on its
first possession (video).
Six minutes into the second quarter, the Carlisle-Harris combo hooked up
again, this time for a 63-yard scoring play. A fumble recovery at the
Navy 34 set up yet another touchdown for the Longhorns before the half.
Carlisle went the final nine yards and at intermission the Horns were
up, 21-0.
Texas produced its last score of the game late in the third quarter to boost its lead to 28-0. Tommy Wade, the No. 2 quarterback, took over and engineered the drive. There was a touch of insult in this one, since Wade revived a stalled drive with a 21-yard pass to the Navy 5 to George Sauer, son of a former Navy coach. Fullback Harold Philipp took it over from the 2.
Up to this stage Navy's Staubach, the All-America and Heisman Trophy winner, had been beating his head against the rushing Texas line like a fly caught in a bottle.
Roger wound up with some impressive statistics but in the final
analysis they were about useless as those banners reading, "We're No.
1," that some sailors brought to the game. For the record, Staubach had
31 pass attempts, a personal high, and 21 completions, a Navy and Cotton
Bowl record. He gained 228 yards passing, which surpassed the Cotton
Bowl mark set earlier in the game by Carlisle (video).
But the quarterback also had a minus 47 yards rushing, and that was a personal high, too. It indicated the number of times the charging Texas line tossed him on his back. The Texas defense was spectacular, holding an offense that averaged better than 31 points per game to just six, and minus 14 yards rushing. Outland Trophy winner Scott Appleton was the defensive ringleader (video).
Staubach got the Middies a fourth quarter touchdown. Fearing a shutout, it was Staubach’s arm that led Navy to its only touchdown, completing four passes for a total of 57 yards on a 75-yard drive. Staubach carried over from the two to end the day’s scoring.
Texas' third team then wound up the game on the Navy one-foot line. Texas also had the satisfaction of making the much-maligned football polls look good again. It was the seventh time in the last eight tries that the national champion had protected its ranking in a bowl game. Minnesota in the 1961 Rose Bowl game was the last No, 1 team to lose.
The last 1-2 match-up was in the 1963 Rose Bowl, when national champion Southern California outlasted second-ranked Wisconsin 42-37.
Before the game, Navy Coach Wayne Hardin had said he wouldn't expect Texas to give the trophies back but if Navy won it would feel in its heart that it was the best.
After the game Hardin said he did not ever remember seeing any team "more deserving of being No. 1 than Texas."
Converted to a quarterback from defense, Carlisle became the star of the 1964 Cotton Bowl
Carlisle goes deep to Harris
Phil Harris hauls it in over Navy defender
Longhorns stop Navy's Pat Donnelly
Attendance- 75,300
Scoring Summary
First Quarter:
Tex- Harris 58 pass from Carlisle (Crosby kick)
Second Quarter:
Tex- Harris 63 pass from Carlisle (Crosby kick)
Tex- Carlisle 9 run (Crosby kick)
Third Quarter:
Tex- Philipp 2 run (Crosby kick)
Fourth Quarter:
Navy- Staubach 2 run (pass failed)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
Navy- Donnelly 8-12
Tex- Carlisle 11-54, Ford 9-39, Stockton 5-35, Philipp 6-23, Green 7-18
Passing
Navy- Staubach 21-31-228
Texas- Carlisle 7-19-213
Receiving
Navy- Orr 9-112, Sjuggerud 4-52, Donnelly 3-16, Campbell 2-16, Henderson
1-13
Tex- Harris 3-157, Lammons 2-30, Talbert 2-26, Sauer 1-21
