The 1973 Liberty Bowl was a college football postseason

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 Subdivi ...

played on December 17, 1973, in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. In the 15th 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 ...

, the NC State Wolfpack defeated the Kansas Jayhawks, 31–18.

Background

The Wolfpack went a perfect 6–0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, winning their first ACC title since 1968. This was the first time the Wolfpack made bowl appearances in consecutive seasons. Kansas tied for second in the Big Eight Conference but was badly thinned by injuries to key personnel. This was their first bowl appearance since

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

. This was North Carolina State's third Liberty Bowl in 10 years (

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

and

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

being the other two times).

Game summary

With the game a 10–10 tie early in the third quarter, Kansas' Bruce Adams called for a fair catch on a punt, but in the midst of heavy traffic he fell down on the field, with the ball bouncing off him. NC State recovered the ball deep in Kansas territory. Adams' argument that he was tripped were ignored by the referees (television replay appeared to show that he, indeed, had been tripped). The Wolfpack soon scored two plays later, and with momentum in their favor, scored twice more. Stan Fritts went for 83 yards on 18 carries in an MVP effort.

Scoring summary

*NC State – Stan Fritts 2 yard touchdown run (Sewell kick), 4:09 remaining in the 1st. *Kansas – Miller 12 yard touchdown pass from Dave Jaynes (Love kick), 14:15 remaining in the 2nd. *NC State – 33 yard field goal by Sewell, 4:54 remaining in the 2nd. *Kansas – 28 yard field goal by Love, 0:28 remaining in the 2nd. *NC State – Fritts 8 yard touchdown run (Sewell kick), 9:20 remaining in the 3rd. *NC State – Charley Young 12 yard touchdown run (Sewell kick), 4:50 remaining in the 4th. *NC State – Jim Henderson 31 yard interception return (Sewell kick), 4:03 remaining in the 4th. *Kansas – Miller 12 yard touchdown run (Jaynes pass to Adams), :34 remaining in the 4th.

Aftermath

The Jayhawks returned to the Liberty Bowl in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

. In the next 30 years, they went to bowl games only 5 times. While the Wolfpack have not returned to the Liberty Bowl since the game, they played in 16 bowl games over the next 30 years.

Statistics

References

Liberty Bowl Kansas Jayhawks football bowl games NC State Wolfpack football bowl games December 1973 sports events in the United States 1973 in sports in Tennessee {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub