| 1971 Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 37th Sugar Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
 Tulane Stadium inNew Orleans, Louisiana, hosted the Sugar Bowl. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 1, 1971 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1970 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Tulane Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | New Orleans, Louisiana | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Bobby Scott (Tennessee QB) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Tennessee by 10 points[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | R. Pete Williams (SEC) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 75,087 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ABC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Chris Schenkel, Bud Wilkinson | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The1971 Sugar Bowl was the 37thedition of thecollege footballbowl game, played atTulane Stadium inNew Orleans, on Thursday, January 1. It featured thefourth-rankedTennessee Volunteers of theSoutheastern Conference (SEC), and theindependentAir Force Falcons.[2][3]
The Falcons were in their first Sugar Bowl under thirteenth-year head coachBen Martin; he had a 68–57–7 record and brought Air Force into national prominence, ranked in theAP Poll for the second time in school history. However, the tenth-ranked Falcons lost their final regular season game 49–19 at home toColorado. A week earlier, Air Force had defeatedPacific-8 championStanford, who later upset #2Ohio State in theRose Bowl.
Tennessee was under the leadership of 29-year old rookie coachBill Battle, a member of the national champion1961 Alabama Crimson Tide. This was the Vols' fifth Sugar Bowlappearance and first since the1957 game. The Vols rolled overAlabama 24–0 atKnoxville in October (the Vols' last win vs. the Crimson Tide until1982) and gained revenge for a 38–0 loss in 1969 toOle Miss in November, but an early loss toAuburn inBirmingham wound up costing Tennessee a tie for the Southeastern Conference championship, which instead went outright toLSU when the Tigers defeated the Rebels 61-17 in their regular season finale.
The game was a match of offense vs defense. In the regular season, Air Force averaged 423.6 yards in offense, while Tennessee surrendered only 88.4 yards on defense.[4]
Televised byABC, the Sugar Bowl kicked off at12 noonCST, an hour before theCotton Bowl onCBS.[5]
QuarterbackBobby Scott summed the game up with a quote after the game: "We had the momentum going." The Volunteers, not fooled by Air Force's eight-man line, drove 59 yards in 2 minutes and 45 seconds and culminated with a Don McLeary touchdown. It only grew worse for the Falcons as they fumbled on their ensuing drive, as the Vols added in a field goal by George Hunt soon after. Following an Air Force punt, the Vols drove down the field once again, driving 58 yards that culminated in McLeary's 2nd touchdown. A fumble by Air Force gave the ball back to the Vols at the Falcons' own 24. Four plays later, Scott passed to Gary Theiler for a touchdown. By this point, 3:12 was left in the first period, and it was 24–0. Air Force did later score in the quarter, happening on a fumble recovery by Darryl Hass in the endzone on a bad snap while the Vols were in their own territory. The second quarter went scoreless, as the demoralized Falcons trailed 24–7 at halftime.
The third quarter turned out to be worse.Bobby Majors returned an Air Force punt 57 yards for a touchdown. Air Force added in a measly touchdown later in the quarter, but by that point it was 31–13, and Hunt added in his second field goal to make the final score 34–13.[6]
First quarter
Second quarter
Third quarter
Fourth quarter
| Statistics | Tennessee | Air Force |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 24 | 15 |
| Yards rushing | 42–86 | 24–(-12) |
| Passing | 24–46–2 | 23–46–4 |
| Yards passing | 306 | 239 |
| Total yards | 88–392 | 70–227 |
| Punts–Average | 5–31.4 | 8–34.5 |
| Fumbles–Lost | 7–3 | 7–4 |
| Turnovers | 5 | 8 |
| Penalties–Yards | 6–74 | 0–0 |
Air Force has not returned to the Sugar Bowl or any other bowl sponsored by theBowl Championship Series and its successor, theCollege Football Playoff. Tennessee has returned twice,1986 and1991, where they defeated theMiami Hurricanes and theVirginia Cavaliers, respectively.
This was the final event atTulane Stadium that was played on grass.Poly-Turf was installed in the summer of 1971 at the request of theNational Football League after naming the stadium as the host ofSuper Bowl VI, and remained in place until the stadium was torn down at the end of 1979.