1966 Orange Bowl
| 1966 Orange Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 1, 1966 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1965 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Miami Orange Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Miami, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 72,214 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Curt Gowdy & Paul Christman | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1966 Orange Bowl featured the third-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers and the fourth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide.
This was the second year that the Orange Bowl was played at night on New Year's Day, after the other college football bowl games. Due to losses by both #1 Michigan State in the Rose Bowl and #2 Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl earlier in the day, the game had turned into a de facto national championship game, as the AP would be taking a final post-bowl vote for the first time ever.
Game summary
Alabama scored first on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Steve Sloan to Ray Perkins as Alabama took a 7–0 lead. In the second quarter, Nebraska's Bob Churchich threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Tony Jeter to tie the game at 7. Alabama's Les Kelly scored on a 4-yard touchdown run as the Crimson Tide led 14–7. Sloan and Perkins connected for the second time of the game, as Alabama led 21-7. An 18-yard field goal before halftime gave Alabama a 24–7 lead.
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 on a 1-yard touchdown run giving Alabama a 32–13 lead. In the fourth quarter, Churchich scored on a 1-yard run making it 32–20. Bowman scored on a 3-yard run as Alabama led 39–20. Churchich threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Tony Jeter as the final score was Alabama 39, Nebraska 28.