The 1961 Cotton Bowl Classic was the 25th

edition Edition may refer to: * Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies * Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run * Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text * Edition Recor ...

of the

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, played at the Cotton Bowl in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, on Monday, January 2. Part of the 1960–61 bowl game season, it matched two conference champions, the seventh-ranked

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

of the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

(SWC), and the #10

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC). With a late score, underdog Duke won 7–6, in front of 74,000 spectators.

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

was on Sunday in 1961; the major bowl games were played the following day.

Teams

Arkansas

Arkansas won the Southwest Conference in 1960, led by junior star

Lance Alworth Lance Dwight Alworth (born August 3, 1940), nicknamed “Bambi”, is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for the San Diego Chargers of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) an ...

( RB/ PR/ DB/ P), who led the nation in punt return yardage, and was ninth in the country in kick return yardage. The Hogs defeated #11

and #10

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, but lost to #20 Baylor and second-ranked Ole Miss. It was the Razorbacks' third

appearance Appearance may refer to: * Visual appearance, the way in which objects reflect and transmit light * Human physical appearance, what someone looks like * ''Appearances'' (film), a 1921 film directed by Donald Crisp * Appearance (philosophy), or p ...

in the Cotton Bowl, and the first under third-year head coach

Frank Broyles John Franklin Broyles (December 26, 1924 – August 14, 2017) was an American college football player and coach, college athletics administrator, and broadcaster. He served as the head football coach for one season at the University of Missour ...

Duke

Duke won the Atlantic Coast Conference, but lost its final two games, on the road at

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. The Blue Devils had four first team-all conference players. This was the program's sixth

in a major bowl, and first in the Cotton.

Game summary

In a game full of stars such as

of Arkansas and Don Altman and Tee Moorman of Duke, Dave Unser came up biggest. His block of Mickey Cissel's extra point attempt was the difference in the final score."1961 Cotton Bowl
Razorback Bowl History – 1961 Cotton Bowl
Retrieved on February 2, 2009. The games was scoreless until late in the third quarter. Alworth provided a memorable play when he snagged a high snap on a punt. Under pressure from Duke defenders, he then rolled right and sprinted upfield. While running he punted the ball deep, which went out at the Duke 2. Two plays later he returned a Duke punt for a touchdown. The kick was blocked by Unser, keeping the Hogs' lead at six points. In the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils hooked together five passes from Altman to Moorman in one drive that culminated in the tying touchdown and go-ahead extra point.
Duke improved to 3–3 in bowl appearances, all in major bowls, while the Arkansas postseason record dropped to 2–2–2, with two losses and a tie in the Cotton Bowl.

Aftermath

In the nineteen seasons under Broyles, Arkansas played in four Cotton Bowls and four

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

s; the

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

team went undefeated. It was the first of three consecutive conference titles for Duke,"ACC Year by Year.
ACC.
Retrieved on February 2, 2009. but the Blue Devils did not appear in another bowl game until

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

. Duke did not earn another bowl victory until 2015, when the Blue Devils defeated

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

in the

Pinstripe Bowl The Pinstripe Bowl is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football bowl game that is held at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, New York City. First played in 2010, the game is organized ...

References

External links

Cotton Bowl Classic
– January 2, 1961
Duke Blue Devils football
– 2017 media guide – 1961 Cotton Bowl – page 102 {{Duke Blue Devils bowl game navbox

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...

Cotton Bowl Classic Arkansas Razorbacks football bowl games Duke Blue Devils football bowl games January 1961 sports events in the United States Cotton Bowl