1971 Orange Bowl

Miami, Fla., Jan. 1, 1971--Playing under the lights in Miami's Orange Bowl for the first time in five years, Coach Bob Devaney's Nebraska Cornhuskers won the first of two straight national titles by virtue of a 17-12 win over LSU and some fortunate circumstances.

Earlier in the day, top-ranked Texas was upset by Notre Dame, 24-11, in the Cotton Bowl, and No. 2 Ohio State was shocked by Stanford, 27-17, in the Rose Bowl. That left the door to the title wide open for No. 3 Nebraska. The Huskers responded by building a 10-0 first-quarter lead on a 25-yard field goal by Paul Rogers and a 3-yard TD run by Joe Orduna. But a pair of Mark Lumpkin FG's and a 31-yard Buddy Lee to Al Coffee TD pass on the last play of the third quarter gave the aroused Tigers a 12-10 lead.

Nebraska showed its grit by driving 67 yards, and after quarterback Jerry Tagge stretched the ball over from the 1-yard line with 8:50 left, the Huskers clinched their first national title.

1971 Orange Bowl

Teams	1	2	3	4	Final
Nebraska	10	0	0	7	17
LSU	0	3	9	0	12

 

Statistics	NU	LSU
First Downs	18	20
Rushing, Net	132	51
Passes Att., Comp., Int.	28-14-2	32-17-1
Passing, Net	161	227
Total Offense	293	278

Scoring Summary
First Quarter
NU-FG Paul Rogers 25, 2:40
NU-Joe Orduna 3 run (Rogers kick), 2:06

Second Quarter
LSU-FG Mark Lumpkin 36, 0:49

Third Quarter
LSU-FG Lumpkin 25, 11:49
LSU-Al Coffee 31 pass from Buddy Lee (Lumpkin kick failed), 0:00

Fourth Quarter
NU-Jerry Tagge 1 run (Rogers kick), 8:50