| 1967 Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 33rd Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Tulane Stadium inNew Orleans, Louisiana, hosted the Sugar Bowl. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 2, 1967 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1966 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Tulane Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | New Orleans,Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Ken Stabler (AlabamaQB) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Alabama by 9 points[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| National anthem | Marguerite Piazza | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Earl Jansen (Big Eight; split crew, Big Eight andSEC) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 82,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Jim Simpson,Charlie Jones | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 23.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The1967 Sugar Bowl was the 33rdedition of thecollege footballbowl game, played atTulane Stadium inNew Orleans,Louisiana, on Monday, January 2 . Part of the1966–67 bowl game season, it matched the undefeated andthird-rankedAlabama Crimson Tide of theSoutheastern Conference (SEC) and the #6Nebraska Cornhuskers of theBig Eight Conference. Favored by nine points,[1] Alabama won 34–7.[2][3]
New Year's Day was on a Sunday in 1967, so the game was played the following day.
Alabama finished the regular season as SEC champions with a recordof 10–0. Although undefeated and playing as two-time defending national champions, Alabama did not win the national title in 1966.[4] Instead voters rewardedNotre Dame after coachAra Parseghian, with his team tied10–10 withMichigan State with 1:10 to go, chose toplay for the tie rather than attempt to winthe game.[4] The Fighting Irish and Spartans both finished9–0–1, did not play in a bowl game, and were ranked first and second in the polls, while Alabama wasthird;[4]both major polls released their final editions in early December, prior to the bowl games.
This was the Tide's fifth Sugar Bowl, and their twentiethbowl appearance.
Nebraska finished the regular season as Big Eight champions with a record of 9–1. The only loss of the season came in their final game againstOklahoma by a score of 10–9.[5] In a rematch of the previous season'sOrange Bowl, it was the first time for Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl, and their seventhbowl appearance.[5]
The Sugar Bowl was the first game of a major bowl tripleheader (Rose,Orange) onNBC, and kicked off at 1 pmCST. There was no competition with theCotton Bowl for television viewers this year, as that game was played two days earlier, on New Year's Eve.
Alabama scored on its first three offensive possessions to take a17–0 lead.[2]Leslie Kelley and quarterbackKen Stabler scored touchdowns on runs of one and 14 yards, with Steve Davis adding a 30-yardfield goal late in the quarter.[6] A six-yard Wayne Trimble touchdown run in the second quarter gave the Crimson Tide a 24–0 lead at the half.[6]
Alabama extended their lead to 27–0 after a 40-yard field goal by Davis. Nebraska scored their first points early in the fourth quarter, as Dick Davis made a 15-yard touchdown reception from Bob Churchich to cut the leadto 27–7.[6] Alabama closed the game with a 45-yardRay Perkins touchdown reception from Stabler to bring the final scoreto 34–7.[6] Stabler was selected as the game'sMost Valuable Player for completing 12 of 18 passes for 218 yards and two total touchdowns.[7]
| Scoring summary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Statistics | Nebraska | Alabama |
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| First downs | 16 | 19 |
| Rushing yards | 25–84 | 44–157 |
| Passing | 22–38–5 | 15–26–2 |
| Passing yards | 279 | 279 |
| Total offense | 63–297 | 70–436 |
| Punts–average | 5–38.8 | 4–35.2 |
| Fumbles lost | 5–2 | 3–1 |
| Turnovers | 7 | 3 |
| Penalties–yards | 2–30 | 1–15 |
It was Alabama's last win in a bowl for nine years, until theSugar Bowl in December1975. Nebraska did not make a bowl in the next two seasons, but returned the favorfive years later in the1972 Orange Bowl, with a decisive38–6 win over the #2Tide to repeat asnational champions.