The 1975 Sun Bowl was a

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 ...

postseason bowl game that featured the

Pittsburgh Panthers The Pittsburgh Panthers, commonly also referred to as the Pitt Panthers, are the athletic teams representing the University of Pittsburgh, although the term is colloquially used to refer to other aspects of the university such as alumni, facu ...

and the

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are also a mem ...

Background

With a surprising fourth-place finish 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 ...

, the Jayhawks had a highlight victory over eventual national champion Oklahoma (breaking the Sooners' 37-game unbeaten streak), and walloped Missouri 41-24 to clinch the Sun Bowl bid. Head coach Bud Moore (in his first year at Kansas) was named Big Eight Coach of the Year and finished runner-up to

Woody Hayes Wayne Woodrow Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Denison University (1946–1948), Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1949–1950), and Ohio State University (1951 ...

for the Football Writers Association of America's National Coach of the Year award. This was their third bowl appearance in eight seasons and only their fifth ever. The highlight of the season for the Panthers was beating No. 9 Notre Dame in the final game of the season. This was their second bowl game in three years.

Game summary

Kansas had an opportunity to take the lead on an 82-yard touchdown play on an option run by

Nolan Cromwell Nolan Neil Cromwell (born January 30, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was a safety for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Kansas Jayhawks, where he earn ...

and a pitch to Bill Campfield, but Cromwell's pitch was ruled an illegal forward pass, and the Jayhawks punted soon after. A Panther missed field goal led to Kansas driving to the Pittsburgh 16, but they were stopped short on 4th and inches. Soon after, fullback Elliot Walker caught a pitchout and broke three tackles for sixty yards on his way to a touchdown to make it 7–0 Pittsburgh with 2:11 in the 1st. A penalty on Kansas during a punt return and a Cromwell fumble led to two

Tony Dorsett Anthony Drew Dorsett Sr. (born April 7, 1954) is a former American football running back who played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos. From Western Pennsylvania, Dorsett attended the ...

touchdowns, the latter occurring with :26 left in the second quarter. Kansas narrowed the lead with 4 minutes left in the third quarter on a

Laverne Smith Laverne Smith (born September 12, 1954) is a former American football running back who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth round of the 1977 NFL Draft ...

55-yard touchdown run that made it 19–7. With 12:49 left in the game, Walker plunged for a two-yard score to make it 26–7. With 6:11 to go, Smith scored on a 17-yard dash to make it 26-13. Quarterback Robert Haygood finished the Pittsburgh scoring with his 7-yard touchdown pass to make it 33–13 with 3:15 to go. By the time Kansas scored on a Scott McMichael pass to Skip Sharp from 38 yards out, there was only 2:02 left as Pittsburgh won their first bowl game since

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Fe ...

. For the first time ever in a bowl game, a team had three players rush for 100 yards in the same game: Tony Dorsett (142 yards on 27 carries), Eliot Walker (123 yards on 11 carries) and Robert Haygood (101 yards on 14 carries).

Aftermath

Johnny Majors John Terrill Majors (May 21, 1935June 3, 2020) was an American professional football player and college coach. A standout halfback at the University of Tennessee, he was an All-American in 1956 and a two-time winner of the Southeastern Confe ...

’ Panthers would start the following season ranked No. 9, en route to a national championship. They returned to the Sun Bowl in

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 ...

, while Kansas has not returned since. Kansas started 4-0 in 1976 and earned a #7 national ranking before Cromwell suffered a season-ending knee injury and the Jayhawks slid to a 6-5 finish.

Statistics

References

{{Pittsburgh Panthers bowl game navbox

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

Sun Bowl Kansas Jayhawks football bowl games Pittsburgh Panthers football bowl games December 1975 sports events in the United States