The 1965 Gator Bowl (January) was an American

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 on January 2, 1965, at

Gator Bowl Stadium The Gator Bowl was an American football stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. Originally built in 1927, all but a small portion was razed in 1994 in preparation for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars' inaugural season; the reconstructed stadium became Jac ...

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

. The game pitted the

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivis ...

and the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

Background

Florida State started the season with five straight wins (including one against #5 Kentucky) to get to #10 in the rankings before a loss to Virginia Tech dropped them out. They went 3-0-1 the rest of the way, while being invited to a bowl game for the first time since

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

. Oklahoma started the season ranked at #2, but went 1-3 to start the season, with losses to USC, #1 Texas, and Kansas. They went 5-0-1 the rest of the season (including a win at #4 Nebraska), to finish in second place in the

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

to qualify for their sixth bowl game in 11 years.

Game summary

*Florida State - Howard Ehler, 69-yd. pass interception (kick failed) *Oklahoma - Jon Kennedy, 1-yd. run (Butch Metcalf kick) *Florida State - Fred Biletnikoff, 15-yd. pass from Steve Tensi (pass failed) *Florida State - Biletnikoff, 14-yd. pass from Tensi (pass failed) *Florida State - Biletnikoff, 10-yd. pass from Tensi (pass failed) *Oklahoma - Tommy Pannell, 2-yd. run (pass failed) *Florida State - Don Floyd, 14-yd. pass from Tensi (pass failed) *Oklahoma - Ben Hart, 95-yd. pass from Ronnie Fletcher (pass failed) *Florida State - Biletnikoff, 6-yd. pass from Tensi (kick failed) For Florida State, Steve Tensi threw 23-of-36 for 303 yards and five touchdowns. Fred Biletnikoff caught four of those passes for touchdowns, along with nine more for a total of 192 yards. Florida State outrushed Oklahoma 217 to 71, outthrew them 303 to 209 while only punting once in the game.

Aftermath

Florida State would reach three more bowl games in the decade; Oklahoma would reach two more in the decade.

References

Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, operated by Gator Bowl Sports. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised natio ...

Gator Bowl Florida State Seminoles football bowl games Oklahoma Sooners football bowl games January 1965 sports events in the United States

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