| 1984 Cotton Bowl Classic | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 48th Cotton Bowl Classic | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 2, 1984 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1983 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Cotton Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Dallas, Texas | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | John Lastinger (Georgia QB) Jeff Leiding (Texas LB) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Texas by 7½ points[1][2] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Howard Roe (Big Eight) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 67,891 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | CBS | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Lindsey Nelson,Pat Haden | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The1984 Cotton Bowl Classic was the 48thedition of thecollege footballbowl game, played at theCotton Bowl inDallas,Texas, on Monday, January 2.[3] Part of the1983–84 bowl game season, it matched the undefeated andsecond-rankedTexas Longhorns of theSouthwest Conference (SWC) and the #7Georgia Bulldogs of theSoutheastern Conference (SEC). Underdog Georgia rallied with a late touchdown to win, 10–9.[4][5][6]
New Year's Day was on Sunday in 1984, and the major college bowl games were played the following day.
The Bulldogs tiedClemson on the road in September, and lost at home toAuburn in November. That win also gave Auburn theSEC championship and an automatic berth to theSugar Bowl . It was Georgia's thirdappearance in the Cotton Bowl.
The Longhorns had won all eleven games and had a regular season winning streak of seventeen games.
Televised byCBS, the game kicked off shortly after 12:30 p.m.CST, as did theFiesta Bowl onNBC.[3]
Texas drove deep on its first possession, but settled for a 22-yard field goal by Jeff Ward. Georgia'sKevin Butler made one from 43 yards to tie the game in the closing seconds of the first quarter. The second quarter was scoreless.
Ward added six more points with two more field goals of 40 and 27 yards in the third quarter, and Texas led 9–3 with less than five minutes to play. A Chip Andrews (Georgia) muffed punt by Texas defensive backCraig Curry, recovered by Defensive Back Gary Moss (Georgia), late in the fourth quarter allowed Georgiaquarterback John Lastinger to run 17 yards for atouchdown with 3:22 left to play to capture a 10–9 victory. The loss was the first for the Longhorns, costing them a possiblenational title.
First quarter
Second quarter
Third quarter
Fourth quarter
| Statistics | Georgia | Texas |
|---|---|---|
| First Downs | 13 | 14 |
| Yards Rushing | 45–149 | 47–110 |
| Yards Passing | 66 | 168 |
| Passing | 6–20–1 | 8–26–2 |
| Total Offense | 65–215 | 73–278 |
| Punts–Average | 9–41 | 7–46 |
| Fumbles–Lost | 2–1 | 4–2 |
| Turnovers | 2 | 4 |
| Penalties–Yards | 3–25 | 6–52 |
| Time of possession | 29:41 | 30:19 |
That night in theOrange Bowl, the #5Miami Hurricanes upset top-rankedNebraska, 31–30. Miami moved past Nebraska and the Longhorns to secure their first national championship. Georgia climbed to fourth in thefinal AP poll, and Texas fell to fifth.