The 1975 Fiesta Bowl was the fifth

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of the college football

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 at Sun Devil Stadium in

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

on Friday, December 26. Part of the 1975–76 bowl game season, it matched the sixth-ranked

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

of the Big Eight Conference and the undefeated #7

Arizona State Sun Devils The Arizona State Sun Devils are the athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member ...

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, and Texas. Due to mos ...

(WAC). The underdog Sun Devils won, 17–14. Played at ASU's home venue, this was the Fiesta Bowl's first matchup between teams ranked in the top ten; the next was six years later.

Teams

Nebraska

The Cornhuskers won their first ten games of the season and climbed to second in the

AP poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

; they were set up for a Big Eight title and potential national championship until a fourth consecutive loss to

rival A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

Oklahoma on November 22. This was Nebraska's first

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in the Fiesta Bowl; the Huskers had won their previous six bowl games, and the last five were major bowls.

Arizona State

The Sun Devils won all eleven games in the regular season to take their fifth WAC title in six years; it was their fourth Fiesta Bowl

in five years.

Game summary

The game kicked off shortly after 1 p.m. MST, following the Sun Bowl, both televised by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. Placekicker Danny Kush started and ended the scoring in this game that arguably put the Fiesta Bowl on the map. He gave ASU an early lead in the first quarter, but I-back Monte Anthony gave Nebraska the lead in the second quarter with his one-yard touchdown run. With less than a minute remaining in the half, the Sun Devils drove down the field and narrowed the lead to a point with another Kush field goal. Anthony scored another touchdown in the third quarter to extend Nebraska's lead to Wide receiver

John Jefferson John Larry Jefferson (né Washington; born February 3, 1956) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football with the Arizona State Sun Devils, h ...

caught a ten-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback

Fred Mortensen Fred Mortensen (born March 24, 1954) was a former college football player at Arizona State University. Fred played three years in the United States Football League, playing quarterback for the Denver Gold in 1983 and 1984 and the San Antonio G ...

, who had taken over after sophomore starter Dennis Sproul was briefly hurt on a successful sneak on fourth down at the Nebraska thirteen to extend the drive. Head coach

Frank Kush Frank Joseph Kush (January 20, 1929 – June 22, 2017) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Arizona State University from 1958 to 1979, compiling a record of 176–54–1. Kush was also the head coach of th ...

opted for a

two-point conversion In gridiron football, a two-point conversion or two-point convert is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point conversion immediately after it scores a touchdown. In a two-point conversion attempt, the team that just scored must run ...

attempt, and wingback

Larry Mucker Larry Donnell Mucker (born December 15, 1954) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the ninth round of the 1977 NFL Draft. He played college football at ...

caught a pass from Mortensen at the end zone's left edge to tie the game at fourteen early in the final quarter. Nebraska punted twice after short drives, with Mortensen throwing an interception in between. Sproul returned at quarterback and he drove the Sun Devils down the field to the Nebraska twelve; Kush kicked a 29-yard field goal for a three-point lead with under five minutes remaining. The Huskers then got their offense going, and with just over a minute remaining, fullback Tony Davis caught a third-down pass over the middle inside the Devils' thirty. He was hit by John Harris and fumbled, ASU's Rocky Mataalli recovered, and the offense ran out the clock. Arizona State held Nebraska scoreless in the fourth quarter to win their fourth Fiesta Bowl in as many attempts; Jefferson was named offensive MVP with eight receptions for 115 yards. Linebacker

Larry Gordon Larry Gordon (July 8, 1954 – June 25, 1983) was an American football linebacker who played seven seasons in the National Football League for the Miami Dolphins. A member of the Dolphins' Silver Anniversary team, he was in the starting lineup ...

was the defensive MVP, but was ejected early in the fourth quarter for fighting (along with Nebraska's consensus All-American center Rik Bonness). Nebraska led in rushing yards, but ASU outgained them in passing and total yards, had fewer turnovers, and scored just one touchdown.

Scoring

First quarter * ASU – Danny Kush 27-yard field goal Second quarter * NEB – Monte Anthony 1-yard run (Mike Coyle kick) * ASU – Kush 33-yard field goal Third quarter * NEB – Anthony 4-yard run (Coyle kick) Fourth quarter * ASU –

10-yard pass from

(

pass from Mortensen) * ASU – Kush 29-yard field goal

Statistics

: :

Aftermath

Arizona State (12–0) was second in the final AP poll, their best finish ever; Nebraska (10–2) dropped to ninth. ASU won another WAC title in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

and moved to the in 1978. Both teams returned multiple times to the Fiesta Bowl, Nebraska five times (next in January

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

) and ASU twice (next in December

References

External links

Fiesta Bowl
– December 26, 1975
YouTube
– 1975 Fiesta Bowl – brief highlights {{Nebraska Cornhuskers 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 pla ...

Fiesta Bowl Arizona State Sun Devils football bowl games Nebraska Cornhuskers football bowl games December 1975 sports events in the United States