The 1962 Liberty Bowl was a postseason

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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 in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

on Saturday, December 15. The fourth edition of the

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic City ...

, it featured the

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for c ...

and the

Villanova Wildcats The Villanova Wildcats are the athletic teams of Villanova University. They compete in the Big East (NCAA Division I) for every sport; except football and rowing where they compete in the Colonial Athletic Association (Football Championship Sub ...

, both

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programs.

Background

The OSU Beavers (8–2) were led by

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

-winning quarterback

Terry Baker Terry Wayne Baker (born May 5, 1941) is a former American football and basketball player. He played college football and basketball at Oregon State University in Corvallis, where he was a member of Phi Delta Theta. Baker played as a quarterba ...

, and were in their first bowl game in five years as the Beavers. They ended the regular season on a seven-game winning streak, including a 27–0 win over No. 12

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

, a 51–22 rout of No. 19

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, and a 20–17 rally win (after trailing 17–6 at halftime) over

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Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. The Wildcats (7–2) were in their second straight bowl game but were a fourteen-point underdog.

Game summary

Bad weather made the field frozen, and the weather never reached above , making efforts at getting toward the end zone nearly futile. Although Oregon State was the clear favorite, the hometown Wildcats kept the game close. The game's only score came on a 99-yard run by Baker with under ten minutes left in the first quarter. Trapped at their one-yard line after a punt, Baker was almost sacked by Al Atkinson for a safety, but he broke free, running by the sideline and sprinting toward the end zone. Despite two chances at a chance for two more points, their conversion attempt fell short, leaving it at 6–0. Villanova had a Billy Joe touchdown called back due to a penalty and had another chance intercepted by the Beaver defense. Baker went 9 of 21 passes for 123 yards and accounted for 250 of the team's 299 yards. This was the first bowl win for the Beavers since

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

and the last bowl win for the Beavers until the

2001 Fiesta Bowl The 2001 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, played on January 1, was the thirtieth edition of the Fiesta Bowl and part of the BCS bowl schedule of the 2000 NCAA Division I-A football season. Held on New Year's Day at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, ...

References

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

Liberty Bowl Oregon State Beavers football bowl games Villanova Wildcats football bowl games

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