1980 Cotton Bowl Classic

The 1980 Cotton Bowl Classic was the 44th edition of the college football 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 and the #8 Houston Cougars of the Southwest Conference (SWC). A slight underdog,^[1][2] Houston rallied to win, 17–14.^[4][5][6]

1980 Cotton Bowl Classic
44th Cotton Bowl Classic
Nebraska Cornhuskers Houston Cougars (10–1) (10–1) Big 8 SWC 14 17 Head coach:  Tom Osborne Head coach:  Bill Yeoman AP Coaches 7 8 AP Coaches 8 6
1 2 3 4 Total Nebraska 7 0 0 7 14 Houston 0 7 0 10 17
Date	January 1, 1980
Season	1979
Stadium	Cotton Bowl
Location	Dallas, Texas
MVP	Terry Elston (Houston QB) David Hodge (Houston LB)
Favorite	Nebraska by 3½ points[1][2]
Referee	Robert Aillet (SEC)
Attendance	72,032
United States TV coverage
Network	CBS
Announcers	Lindsey Nelson (Play-by-play 1st qtr only),[3] Frank Glieber (Sideline 1st, then play-by-play), and Paul Hornung
Cotton Bowl Classic  < 1979  1981 >

Teams

Main article: 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season

Nebraska

Main article: 1979 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

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 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

Main article: 1979 Houston Cougars football team

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, 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 Sugar Bowl on ABC.^[7] The Dallas weather was fair and 60 °F (16 °C),^[6] a vast improvement over the previous year's subzero wind chill.

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 Terry Elston to tie the game at seven each, the score at halftime.^[8]

The third quarter was scoreless. Kenny Hatfield kicked a field goal to give the Cougars a 10–7 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 14–10. 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 in three years.^[8][9]

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

Source: ^[4][5][8]

Statistics

Statistics	Houston	Nebraska
First Downs	18	13
Rushes–yards	61–206	41–136
Passing yards	119	91
Passes	9–19–0	11–22–1
Total Offense	80–325	63–227
Punts–average	7–42.0	10–40.6
Fumbles–lost	7–3	1–1
Turnovers	3	2
Penalties–yards	2–22	7–90

Source: ^[4][5][6][8]

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 in 2007.

The Cougars returned five years later but lost. They have not won a Cotton Bowl since 1980.

References

1. "Latest line". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 1, 1980. p. 22.
2. "Nebraska has edge in Cotton". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. January 1, 1980. p. 20.
3. "Laryngitis leaves Lindsey speechless". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. January 2, 1980. p. C2.
4. "Houston can forget year-old nightmare". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). UPI. January 2, 1980. p. 3D.
5. "Houston sub comes through to nip Huskers". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. January 2, 1980. p. 1, part 2.
6. "Houston's 'R-flex-333' hooks Cornhuskers". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. January 2, 1980. p. C2.
7. "Bowl guide: Cotton". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). January 1, 1980. p. 21.
8. "Tipped catch gives Cougars victory". Reading Eagle. (Pennsylvania). Associated Press. January 2, 1980. p. 43.
9. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 5, 2015. Retrieved December 28, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)