The 1966 Orange Bowl was the 32nd

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of the

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, played at the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

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Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, on Saturday, January 1. The final game of the 1965–66 bowl season, it matched the third-ranked and undefeated

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

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and the #4

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a mem ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC). This was the second year that the Orange Bowl was played at night on

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, after the other college football bowl games. Due to losses by both #1

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

in the Rose Bowl and #2

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

in the Cotton Bowl earlier in the day, the game had turned into a de facto

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game, as the AP would be taking a final post-bowl vote for the first time ever. Slightly favored, Alabama won, 39–28.

Teams

Alabama

Nebraska

Game summary

Alabama scored first on a 32-yard touchdown pass from

Steve Sloan Stephen Charles Sloan (born August 19, 1944) is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football as a quarterback at the University of Alabama from 1962 to 1965 and then played for two sea ...

Ray Perkins Walter Ray Perkins (November 6, 1941 – December 9, 2020) was an American football coach and player. He played as a wide receiver for the University of Alabama and Baltimore Colts. He later worked as a football coach for 28 years, including sti ...

. In the second quarter, Nebraska's Bob Churchich threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to

Tony Jeter Tony Jeter (born September 8, 1944) is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League (NFL). Biography Jeter was born Anthony John Jeter on September 8, 1944, in Steubenville, Ohio. He is the ...

to tie the game at seven. Alabama's Les Kelly scored on a four-yard touchdown run as the Crimson Tide regained the lead at 14–7. Sloan and Perkins connected again from eleven yards out, then Alabama recovered the ensuing onside kick; a 19-yard field goal David Ray in the final minute gave the Crimson Tide a commanding 24–7 lead at halftime. In the third quarter, Churchich threw a 49-yard touchdown pass to Ben Gregory as Nebraska narrowed the deficit to 24–13. Steve Bowman scored from a yard out, and a successful

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 ...

, increased the Tide's lead to 32–13. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Churchich ran in from a yard to make it 32–20. Alabama answered with a time-consuming drive, with Bowman scoring on a three-yard run, which put the lead back to nineteen points at 39–20 with just over eight minutes remaining. Churchich threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Jeter with less than three minutes to go for the last score as Alabama Quarterback Sloan was named the game's outstanding player.

Scoring

;First quarter: *Alabama –

21-yard pass from

( David Ray kick), 9:36 ;Second quarter: *Nebraska –

33-yard pass from Bob Churchich (Larry Wachholtz kick), 12:15 *Alabama – Les Kelley 4-yard run (Ray kick), 7:11 *Alabama – Perkins 11-yard pass from Sloan (Ray kick), 1:42 *Alabama – Ray 19-yard field goal, 0:34 ;Third quarter: *Nebraska – Ben Gregory 49-yard pass from Churchich (pass failed), 9:35 *Alabama – Steve Bowman 1-yard run (Perkins pass from Sloan), 4:29 ;Fourth quarter: *Nebraska – Churchich 1-yard run (Wachholtz kick), 14:58 *Alabama – Bowman 3-yard run (Ray kick), 8:13 *Nebraska – Jeter 14-yard pass from Churchich (Gregory pass from Churchich), 2:50 :

Statistics

: :

Aftermath

In the final AP poll, Alabama climbed to first for the national championship, while Nebraska dropped to fifth.

References

External links

* http://www.huskerpedia.com/games/1965/11alabama.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Orange Bowl, 1966 1965–66 NCAA football bowl games

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

January 1966 sports events in the United States