|
|
Orange Bowl 1964
Nebraska 13 Auburn 7
|
|
By Ben Funk Charleston Daily Mail
And when the final whistle blew, professional contracts were waved in the faces of numerous players- especially the pro-size Cornhuskers- who had been forbidden until after the game from entering into negotiations in the play-for-pay leagues.
Eleven players from the Big Eight champion team were selected in the pro drafts, two as future choices. Most eagerly sought were 269-pound guard Bob Brown and 245-pound tackle Lloyd Voss, first round picks of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Green Bay Packers.
Nebraska needed all its muscle to save the win over Auburn against a fierce late surge led by Tigers quarterback Jimmy Sidle.
With two minutes to go, Sidle had the Tigers on the Nebraska 11 in a furious bid for a winning touchdown, but a fourth down pass was batted away and the Cornhuskers escaped with the first victory by a Big Eight team ever scored over a Southeastern Conference foe in seven Orange Bowl games.
For a time, it appeared that Nebraska, the national champion rushing team, was going to use its 16-pounds-a-man weight advantage up front to crush the SEC runners-up.
On the second play, with a formation designed for use in a short yardage situation, quarterback Dennis Claridge broke the bowl's record for a long run by speeding 68 yards to a touchdown.
"It surprised me as much as it did Auburn," Claridge said. "We only figured to make two or three yards on it."
Twice more in the first half, Nebraska thrust close to the Auburn goal to set up field goals by Dave Theisen of 31 and 36 yards. Up to then, with the Nebraska ends containing their wide runs, the Tigers hadn't made any kind of a threat.
An 80-yard punt return by Frank Solich might have produced another early Nebraska touchdown, but the officials ruled that he had stepped out of bounds at the Husker 42.
But the second half was a vastly different story. Nebraska's awesome running attack began to crumble against the small but courageous Auburn line and Sidle finally found the way to get the Tigers moving.
A 69-yard drive by the Tigers against a fast weakening Nebraska defense, with Sidle clicking on a sharp series of passes over the middle, fell just short with only 1:25 to go.
"The boys wanted this one bad." Nebraska's Coacb Bob Devaney said afterward. "We got tired of seeing the Big Eight teams pushed around by the SEC teams like they have been in the past. Auburn was a well-coached team with a lot of courage."
Auburn Coach Ralph (Shug) Jordan, who had come out Monday with a daring prediction that Auburn would win, said he thought the team was going to make a prophet out of him until the final pass was batted down.
The two lines charged into each other with such zest in the first half that Brown broke his shoulder pad in one head-on collision. He had to keep it on with tape in the second half because the team didn't have another one big enough.
The Big Eight's contract the Orange Bowl's host teams expired with this game. Negotiations on a renewal are expected to start later this week. The Orange Bowl Committee has been under pressure to go into the open market for both teams, but Nebraska's victory could influence the decision. |
|
|
|
|
| Dennis Claridge decides the game with a 68 yard run on the second play. | |
|
|
 |
| Tucker Frederickson of Auburn leaps for yardage. | NU's Dick Callahan intercepts a Sidle pass. |
|
|
|
| This color snapshot was taken from Internet photos of Leon Reed (taken by Walter Reed). | |
|
|
|
| Sidle dives for the endzone and Auburn's lone score. | |
|
|
|
| Bobby Hohn carries for Nebraska. | |
|
Attendance: 72,647
Scoring Summary
First Quarter NU - Claridge 68 run (Theisen kick) NU- FG Theisen 31
Second Quarter NU- FG Theisen 36
Third Quarter AU - Sidle 13 run (Woodall kick), 3:32, 3rd
Individual Statistics
Rushing AU- Sidle 25-96, Rawson 4-14, NU- Claridge 108
Passing AU- Sidle 12-25-141 NU- Claridge 4-9 -30
Receiving AU- Simpson 4-39, Rose 3-37, Waid 2-34, Ingle 2-22, Lewis 2-15 NU- Doepke, 1-13
|
|
|
|
|
MIAMI,
Fla. (AP) - Nebraska's big Cornhuskers, playing before an eager audience
of American and National Football League scouts, muscled their way to a
13-7 victory over smaller Auburn in the Orange Bowl Game New Year's Day.
Sidle
hit Buck Waid with a 28 yard pass, then swept 13 yards wide to his left
for the first touchdown that put Auburn back into the game with only a
six-point deficit. 
