1965 Cotton Bowl Classic

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1965 Cotton Bowl Classic
29th Cotton Bowl Classic
Nebraska Cornhuskers Arkansas Razorbacks
(9–1) (10–0)
Big Eight SWC
7 10
Head coach: 
Bob Devaney		 Head coach: 
Frank Broyles
APCoaches
66
APCoaches
22
1234 Total
Nebraska 0700 7
Arkansas 3007 10
DateJanuary 1, 1965
Season1964
StadiumCotton Bowl
LocationDallas, Texas
MVPRonnie Caveness (Arkansas LB)
Fred Marshall (Arkansas QB)
FavoriteArkansas[1]
Attendance75,504[2]
United States TV coverage
NetworkCBS
Cotton Bowl Classic
 ← 1964  1966 (Jan) → 
The Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, hosted the game

The 1965 Cotton Bowl Classic was the twenty-ninth edition of the college football bowl game, played on January 1, 1965 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas. The game matched Southwest champion Arkansas against Big Eight champion Nebraska.

In a tightly contested defensive battle, second-ranked Arkansas rallied to defeat No. 6 Nebraska 10–7 to win its first Cotton Bowl, and was later named national champion by multiple selectors.

Teams

[edit]

Nebraska

[edit]
See also: 1964 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

Under third-year head coach Bob Devaney, Nebraska won its first nine games and ascended to fourth in the AP poll, the highest ranking in school history. NU won the Big Eight outright for the second consecutive year, but a 17–7 loss at rival Oklahoma on November 21 snapped a sixteen-game win streak and eliminated the Cornhuskers from national championship contention.[3]

Arkansas

[edit]
See also: 1964 Arkansas Razorbacks football team

No. 2 Arkansas entered the Cotton Bowl 10–0, including a victory over top-ranked Texas in Austin, to earn the Southwest Conference title. All-American two-way lineman Ronnie Caveness led the Razorbacks' top-ranked scoring defense that allowed just 5.7 points per game. Head coach Frank Broyles made liberal use of the NCAA's new unlimited-substitution rule, which was adopted at the beginning of the 1964 season but was still a rarity among elite teams.[4]

Arkansas had lost three consecutive major bowl games, but entered its 1965 meeting with Nebraska as a slight favorite.[1]

Game

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A standing-room only crowd watched as Arkansas opened the scoring on a Tom McKnelly field goal minutes into the game. Nebraska responded midway through the second quarter, using a pair of Fred Marshall fumbles and a long pass to Harry Wilson to score the first points against Arkansas in six games.[5] The Cornhuskers took a 7–3 lead into halftime, Arkansas's first deficit since October 3.[6]

Nebraska's aggressive defensive gameplan frustrated Arkansas for much of the afternoon, and the Razorbacks made a switch at quarterback after a scoreless third quarter.[5] NU advanced into Arkansas territory early in the fourth quarter, but was turned back without extending the lead.[6] With time winding down, Marshall completed five passes while engineering an eighty-yard Arkansas drive, capped by a three-yard touchdown by running back Bobby Burnett with 4:41 remaining.[4]

Nebraska was unable to mount a threat and Arkansas held on to win 10–7, the program's first victory in a major bowl and its twelfth consecutive win. Marshall and Cavenass, who finished with fifteen tackles, were named the game's most valuable players.[7]

Scoring summary

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Qtr Team Time Detail[2] NU ARK
1 ARK 9:47 Tom McKnelly 31-yd field goal 0 3
2 NU 7:45 Harry Wilson 1-yd run (Duncan Drum kick) 7 3
4 ARK 4:41 Bobby Burnett 3-yd run (McKnelly kick) 7 10

Team statistics

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Statistic[2] Nebraska Arkansas
First downs 11 11
Rushes–yards 44–100 34–45
Comp.–att.–yards 6–16–68 11–19–131
Total offense 168 176
Turnovers 2 3
Punts–average 6–33.3 6–40.1
Penalty yards 25 50

Aftermath

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Broyles rushed his team through postgame festivities so they could watch the Orange Bowl between top-ranked Alabama and Texas.[4] The Longhorns' 21–17 upset left Arkansas as the only unbeaten major-conference team in the country, though the Crimson Tide was still named national champion by the AP and UPI, which released their final polls prior to bowl season.[8] Arkansas was named champion by the FWAA and the Helms Athletic Foundation, the school's only national title claim. Partially due to the results of the Cotton and Orange Bowls in 1964, the AP waited until after bowl season to select a champion in 1965.[9]

Arkansas co-captain Jerry Jones later purchased the Dallas Cowboys and facilitated the construction of Cowboys Stadium in suburban Arlington, where the Cotton Bowl Classic has been played since 2010.[10]

The 1965 Cotton Bowl Classic is the only time Arkansas and Nebraska have met.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, LSU favored in bowl contests". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Associated Press. January 1, 1965. p. 8.
  2. ^ a b c "Razorbacks win defensive battle with late drive". HuskerMax. Retrieved August 19, 2025.
  3. ^ "Midwest: Oklahoma, 17–7". The Register-Guard. Eugene, Oregon. Associated Press. November 22, 1964. p. 5B.
  4. ^ a b c Dan Jenkins (January 11, 1965). "Arkansas takes over at the top". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Arkansas rises, 10-7, to win Cotton Bowl". Pittsburgh Press. United Press International. January 2, 1965. p. 7.
  6. ^ a b Wally Provost (January 2, 1965). "Late Arkansas Pass Nip Cotton Bowl Huskers, 10-7". Omaha World-Herald. Archived from the original on September 21, 2020. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  7. ^ "Arkansas grabs first Cotton Bowl triumph". The Register-Guard. Eugene, Oregon. Associated Press. January 2, 1965. p. 3B.
  8. ^ Bob Kirlin. "Coaches' polls (UPI 1950-1990, CNN/USA Today 1991-present)". Archived from the original on January 5, 2008. Retrieved December 31, 2007.
  9. ^ "CFB150 Stories: Post Bowl National Champion Voting". Rose Bowl Game. October 9, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2025.
  10. ^ Michael Minshew (January 9, 2020). "Jerry Jones Named to Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame". Arkansas Athletics. Retrieved August 20, 2025.