The 1976 Fiesta Bowl was the sixth

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of the

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, played at

Sun Devil Stadium Sun Devil Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the southwestern United States, on the campus of Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. It is home to the ASU Sun Devils football team of the Pac-12 Conference. The s ...

Tempe, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...

on Saturday, December 25. Part of the 1976–77 bowl game season, it matched the eighth-ranked

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 ...

of the

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and the unranked

Wyoming Cowboys The Wyoming Cowboys and Cowgirls are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Wyoming, located in Laramie, Wyoming, Laramie. Wyoming is a member of the Mountain West Conference (MW) and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 17 ...

of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

(WAC). Heavily-favored Oklahoma won in a rout, 41–7. This was the first of four consecutive Fiesta Bowls played on Christmas Day.

Teams

This was the first Fiesta Bowl appearance for each. Both teams' offenses ran out of the

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formation.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma was co-champion of the

for the fifth straight year. They tied

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 ...

and lost to the other co-champions,

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

and

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: CU went to the

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and OSU played in the Tangerine Bowl.

Wyoming

Wyoming was co-champion of the

(WAC) and was making their first bowl

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in nine years, since the

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. It was the Cowboys' first winning season 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 ...

Game summary

This was the only game of the day, and kicked off shortly after 1 p.m.

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started the beating with a touchdown run early in the game and

Horace Ivory Horace Orlando Ivory (born August 8, 1954) is a former American football running back in the NFL from 1977 through 1982. He attended Nolan Catholic High School Nolan Catholic High School is a private, coeducational, college preparatory school, ...

added in his touchdown run to make it 14–0 after the first quarter. Two

Uwe von Schamann Uwe Detlef Walter von Schamann (born April 23, 1956) is a former professional American football placekicker. He played for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League, from 1979 to 1984. Early life Von Schamann was born in Berlin, West ...

field goals made it 20–0 at halftime. Oklahoma scored three more times in the second half on Peacock,

George Cumby George Edward Cumby (born July 5, 1956) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1980s. He played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners, thri ...

, and Woodie Shephard touchdowns. Narrowly avoiding a

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

, Cowboy fullback Robbie Wright scored in the final half-minute to cap a 92-yard drive and make the final score 41–7. This was the biggest margin of victory in the Fiesta Bowl until

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

. Sooner quarterback

Thomas Lott Thomas Willie Lott Jr. (born August 1, 1957) is an American former college and professional football player who was a running back and return specialist in the National Football League (NFL) and United States Football League (USFL). Lott played ...

was the offensive MVP and cornerback Terry Peters took the defensive honor.

Scoring

First quarter * Oklahoma –

3-yard run (

kick) * Oklahoma –

4-yard run (von Schamann kick) Second quarter * Oklahoma – von Schamann 32-yard field goal * Oklahoma – von Schamann 50-yard field goal Third quarter * Oklahoma – Peacock 15-yard run (von Schamann kick) Fourth quarter * Oklahoma –

4-yard run (von Schamann kick) * Oklahoma – Woodie Shephard 8-yard run (von Schamann kick) * Wyoming – Robbie Wright 1-yard run (Dan Christopulos kick)

Statistics

: :

Aftermath

Oklahoma climbed to fifth in the final AP poll. The Sooners returned to the Fiesta Bowl six years later; through , this is Wyoming's only appearance.

References

External links

Fiesta Bowl
– December 25, 1976 {{Wyoming Cowboys bowl game navbox

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been playe ...

Fiesta Bowl Oklahoma Sooners football bowl games Wyoming Cowboys football bowl games December 1976 sports events in the United States