The 1989 Florida Citrus Bowl was held on January 2, 1989 at the

Florida Citrus Bowl Camping World Stadium is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, located in the West Lakes neighborhood of Downtown Orlando, west of new sports and entertainment facilities including the Amway Center, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, an ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

. The #13

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...

defeated the #10

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 ...

by a score of 13–6.

Game summary

The scoring was opened by the Sooners, who converted a 35-yard field goal attempt to lead 3-0 after the first quarter. The second quarter saw Clemson strike back, as the Tigers made two field goal attempts: from 20 yards and then from 46 yards. The Tigers led at halftime, 6–3. The third quarter finished identical to the first, with the only scoring coming from an Oklahoma field goal, this time from 30 yards out. The fourth quarter began with Clemson and Oklahoma tied 6–6, but the Tigers broke the deadlock and MVP Terry Allen found the end zone from 4 yards out and scored the only touchdown of the game and what proved to be the only points of the fourth quarter. With that touchdown, the Tigers secured a second Florida Citrus Bowl victory in two years, winning 13–6.

Aftermath

With both teams scoring 19 points combined, the game proved to be the lowest-scoring Florida Citrus Bowl since #17 Ohio State and #19 BYU met three years prior in the

1985 Florida Citrus Bowl The 1985 Florida Citrus Bowl was the 40th held. It featured the BYU Cougars and the Ohio State Buckeyes. Background Both teams were ranked coming into the Citrus Bowl, with BYU playing in their eighth consecutive bowl game. The Cougars appeared i ...

. The first quarter, which contained three points combined, was the lowest-scoring opening quarter since the same 1985 game, whose first quarter did not contain any scoring. Furthermore, the first half, which contained nine points combined, was the lowest-scoring first half in a Florida Citrus Bowl since the 1973 Tangerine Bowl between Miami (OH) and Florida, whose score was 3–0 at halftime (the bowl game's name was changed from the Tangerine Bowl to the Florida Citrus Bowl in 1983). After the game, #13 Clemson finished at #9 in the polls due to their victory, and #10 Oklahoma finished at #14. This turned out to be the final game for

Barry Switzer Barry Layne Switzer (born October 5, 1937) is a former American football coach and player. He served for 16 years as head football coach at the University of Oklahoma and four years as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football Le ...

as Oklahoma's coach. The Sooner program was rocked later in January when four players were arrested and charged with rape in the university's athletic dormitory. In February, quarterback Charles Thompson was arrested on drug-related charges. The program's woes were the subject of a ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' cover story in its February 27, 1989 issue. The NCAA placed Oklahoma on probation in June, banning the Sooners from appearing on television in 1989, and from appearing in a bowl game in 1989 and 1990. Switzer. who led Oklahoma to national championships in 1974, 1975 and 1985, resigned on June 19 after 16 seasons as head coach, during which time he compiled a 157-29-4 record. Prior to becoming head coach, Switzer was a Sooner assistant under Jim Mackenzie and

Chuck Fairbanks Charles Leo Fairbanks (June 10, 1933 – April 2, 2013) was a football coach who was a head coach at the high school, college and professional levels. He served as the head coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1967 to 1972 and at the Universi ...

References

Citrus Bowl (game) Clemson Tigers football bowl games Oklahoma Sooners football bowl games

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