Cotton Bowl
1975
Penn State 34
Baylor 14
January 1, 1975: The 1974 Southwest Conference campaign was dubbed
the “Miracle on the Brazos.” Baylor had claimed its first SWC
championship in 50 seasons and earned its first ever berth into the
Classic. In fact, it was Baylor’s first New Year’s Day bowl appearance
since 1957. The Bears even kept alive the Cotton Bowl streak for teams
that score first who lose. While Baylor was new to such New Year’s Day
activities, Penn State was full of bowl-wise veterans, and it was the
school’s third trip to Dallas. Five times in their 10-victory season,
the Nittany Lions came from behind to win. Today would become their
sixth.
For two and a half quarters, Baylor’s Bears played like old hands before
the Eastern powerhouse. The two teams traded first quarter turnovers
before Baylor began its march to a 7-0 lead. Penn State had just picked
off a Neal Jeffrey pass at the Baylor 23. But, two plays later, the
Nittany Lions coughed up the ball themselves at the Bear 16. That set
the stage for the impressive Baylor drive. In four minutes, Jeffrey had
his team in scoring position. Steve Beaird went the last four yards and
Baylor was on the scoreboard with only 41 seconds left in the opening
quarter.
Moving the football really wasn’t a problem for the Lions in the first
half, but punching it across the goal line was. It wasn't until the
clock ticked down to 1:13 in the half that Penn State finally cracked
the scoreboard with a 25-yard Matt Bahr field goal. When play resumed in
the third quarter, it was quarterback Tom Shuman’s turn to shine,
engineering an 80-yard Penn State drive that put them in the lead for
the first time at 10-7. Shuman threw strikes of 42 and 20 yards to his
tight end Dan Natale to fuel the march, while Tom Donchez ended it with
a one-yard plunge up the middle for a 10-7 lead. The Bears came roaring
back in the waning minutes of the quarter to regain the lead when
Jeffrey hit Ricky Thompson for 35 yards, making it a 14-10 ballgame.
The seesaw battle continued. With its next possession, Penn State took
the lead for good. Starting from their 48, Donchez gained three on first
down, and Shuman decided it was time to go deep. Freshman Jimmy Cefalo
worked his way behind Baylor defensive back Scooter Reed and Shuman’s
pass was on the money. Cafalo made the grab at the nine and then cruised
in for the score, 17-14. It was more of the same in the fourth quarter.
Penn State turned each possession into points: Cefalo scored from the
three; Bahr hit another field goal; Shuman kept at left guard for two
and the touchdown which made it 34-14; and linebacker Joe Jackson
scooped up Baylor’s onside kick on the last play of the game and ran 50
yards for the final score. Penn State’s 41 points was a Classic record.
Steve Beaird carries for Baylor
Tom Shuman back to pass
Attendance- 68,500
Scoring Summary
First Quarter:
BU- Beaird 4 run (Hicks kick)
Second Quarter:
PSU- FG Bahr 25
Third Quarter:
PSU- Donchez 1 run (Reihner kick)
BU- Thompson 35 pass from Jeffrey (Hicks kick)
PSU- Cefalo 49 pass from Shuman (Reihner kick)
Fourth Quarter:
PSU- Cefalo 3 run (Reihner kick)
PSU- FG Bahr 33
PSU- Shuman 2 run (Reihner kick)
BU- Thompson 11 pass from Jackson (pass fail)
PSU- Jackson 50 kickoff return (Reihner kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
PSU- Donchez 25-116, Hutton 12-79, Cefalo 11-55, Shuman 5-14
BU- Beaird 21-84, McNeil 8-36, M. Jackson 3-18
Passing
PSU- Shuman 10-20-226
BU- Jeffrey 7-19-135
Receiving
PSU- Donchez 4-50, Cefalo 3-102, Natale 3-74
BU- Thompson 3-62, Harper 3-45, A. Jackson 2-38, Kent 1-23
