The 1980 Cotton Bowl Classic was the 44th edition of the

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, played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, on Tuesday, January 1. Part of the 1979–80 bowl game season, it matched the seventh-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers of 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 ...

and the #8

Houston Cougars The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education instr ...

of the Southwest Conference (SWC). A slight underdog, Houston rallied to win, 17–14.

Teams

Nebraska

Nebraska was the runner-up in the Big Eight Conference for the fifth time in head coach Tom Osborne's seventh season, after losing to rival

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

to end the regular season. The Huskers were appearing in their first Cotton Bowl in six years and eleventh consecutive bowl game, seven of which were major bowls.

Houston

The Cougars were co-champions of the Southwest Conference with Arkansas, who they beat midway through the season. While Arkansas was invited to the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

, Houston returned to the Cotton Bowl for the second straight year, their third appearance in four seasons.

Game summary

Televised by CBS, the game kicked off shortly after 1 p.m. CST, as did the

on ABC. The Dallas weather was fair and , a vast improvement over the previous year's subzero

wind chill Wind chill or windchill (popularly wind chill factor) is the lowering of body temperature due to the passing-flow of lower-temperature air. Wind chill numbers are always lower than the air temperature for values where the formula is valid. When ...

. Nebraska halfback Jarvis Redwine opened the scoring with a nine-yard run late in the first quarter to complete an 85-yard drive. Houston responded midway through the second quarter with their own drive, 71 yards in six plays which ended with a touchdown run by quarterback to tie the game at seven each, the score at halftime. The third quarter was scoreless and Kenny Hatfield kicked a field goal to give the Cougs a lead with 8:25 remaining. But Nebraska recovered a Houston fumble at the 31 and scored six plays later on a six-yard touchdown pass from Jeff Quinn to tight end Jeff Finn to take the lead at After the kickoff, Houston started at their own 34 with 3:48 remaining, and Elston drove his team to the Nebraska six with nineteen seconds left. It was fourth and one as Elston snapped the ball, scrambling and throwing through two defenders' hands to Eric Herring in the end zone, to give Houston the lead with twelve seconds left. Nebraska could not work a miracle of their own as the Cougars gained their second Cotton Bowl win

Scoring

First quarter *Nebraska - Jarvis Redwine 9-yard run (Dean Sukup kick) Second quarter *Houston - Terry Elston 8-yard run (Kenny Hatfield kick) Third quarter :''No scoring'' Fourth quarter *Houston - Kenny Hatfield 41-yard field goal *Nebraska - Jeff Finn 6-yard pass from Jeff Quinn (Dean Sukup kick) *Houston - Eric Herring 6-yard pass from Terry Elston (Kenny Hatfield kick), 0:12 remaining :

Statistics

: :

Aftermath

Houston climbed to fifth in the final AP poll and Nebraska dropped to ninth. The Cornhuskers went to bowls for the next eighteen years under Osborne before his retirement. However, they only returned to the Cotton Bowl returned

five years later ''Five Years Later'' is an album by Ralph Towner and guitarists John Abercrombie (guitarist), John Abercrombie, recorded in 1981 and released by ECM Records, ECM in 1982.

but lost. They have not won a Cotton Bowl since 1980.

References

{{Nebraska Cornhuskers bowl game navbox Cotton Bowl Classic Cotton Bowl Classic Houston Cougars football bowl games Nebraska Cornhuskers football bowl games Cotton Bowl Classic Cotton Bowl Classic