1980 Sun Bowl

The 1980 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

Background

A loss to #9 Oklahoma in the final game of the season cost the Cornhuskers the Big Eight Conference title and a bid into the Orange Bowl, instead settling for the Sun Bowl. The Bulldogs had finished third in the Southeastern Conference in Emory Bellard's second year as head coach, closing the regular season on a five-game winning streak.

Game summary

Todd Brown gave Nebraska a 7–0 lead with his 23–yard touchdown run 2:30 into the game. Nebraska scored twice in the second quarter in a span of 1:26 on a Kevin Seibel field goal and a Jeff Finn touchdown catch from Jeff Quinn to establish a 17–0 halftime lead. Dana Moore narrowed the lead with his 47-yard field goal with 7:12 left in the third quarter, but Nebraska responded less than five minutes later on Andra Franklin's 2-yard touchdown run to make it 24–3 at the end of three quarters. John Bond made it 24–10 on his 1-yard touchdown run with 11:44 remaining in the game, but Tim McCrady caught a touchdown pass of 52 yards from Quinn with 3:21 to make it 31–10. Michael Haddix made it 31–17 with 1:00 remaining on his touchdown reception, but it was too late for the Bulldogs as Nebraska won. Jeff Quinn threw 9-of-19 for 151 yards with 1 interception and 2 touchdowns en route to being named MVP. The Cornhusker defense force two interceptions, four fumbles, and a muffed punt while limiting the Bulldogs to less than 100 yards. ^[1][2][3]

Statistics

References