The1971 Orange Bowl was the 37thedition of thecollege footballbowl game, played at theOrange Bowl inMiami,Florida, on Friday, January 1. Part of the1970–71 bowl season, it matched thethird-rankedNebraska Cornhuskers, champions of theBig Eight Conference, and the #5LSU Tigers, champions of theSoutheastern Conference (SEC).

Earlier onNew Year's Day, the two top-ranked teams lost their bowl games: #1Texas in theCotton and #2Ohio State in theRose.^[3] The Huskers were aware when they took the field that night that they could claim the top ranking in the AP writers poll with a victory. An LSU victory would likely have givenNotre Dame the national title.

Ahead early, Nebraska rallied in the fourth quarter to win 17–12, capturing their first-ever National Championship.^[3][4][5][6]

Paul Rogers kicked a 25-yard field goal for Nebraska to take an early lead. Joe Orduna scored on a three-yard touchdown run, as Nebraska extended its lead to 10–0. Late in the second quarter, LSU got a 36-yard field goal from Mark Lumpkin to cut the lead to10–3 at halftime.

In the third quarter, Lumpkin added a 25-yard field goal to makeit 10–6. On the final play of the third quarter, Buddy Lee threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Lance Chaffee to put LSU ahead 12–10. The Huskers then drove 67 yards and quarterbackJerry Tagge scored from a yard out with 8:50 remaining; it was the game's last scoring play and gave Nebraska the17–12 win.^[4][5][6][7]

First quarter

• Nebraska – Paul Rogers 26-yard field goal, 2:40
• Nebraska – Joe Orduna 3-yard run (Rogers kick), 2:06

Second quarter

• LSU – Mark Lumpkin 36-yard field goal, 0:49

Third quarter

• LSU – Lumpkin 25-yard field goal, 11:49
• LSU – Lance Chaffee 31-yard pass from Buddy Lee (kick failed), 0:00

Fourth quarter

• Nebraska –Jerry Tagge 1-yard run (Rogers kick), 8:50

Source:^{[5][6][8][9][10]}

Statistics	LSU	Nebraska
First Downs	20	18
Rushes–yards	45–51	48–132
Passing yards	227	161
Passes (C–A–I)	17–32–1	14–28–2
Total Offense	77–278	76–293
Return yards	3	3
Fumbles–lost	4–3	4–3
Turnovers	4	5
Punts–average	8–32.5	6–37.7
Yards penalized	4–27	8–67

Source:^{[5][6][8][9][10]}

Undefeated Nebraska (11–0–1) was namednational champion in thefinal AP poll, released after the bowlsin January.^[11] With the narrow defeat, LSU (9–3) fell only two spots, from fifth to seventh, its last top-10 finish until finishing fifth in1987. TheUPI coaches poll was released in early December (before the bowls) through the1973 season; it had Texas as first, as it did not consider their 24–11 loss toNotre Dame—which defeated LSU 3–0 at South Bend in November—in theCotton Bowl onNew Year's Day.

In April 1970, Congress passed thePublic Health Cigarette Smoking Act banning the advertising of cigarettes ontelevision andradio; in order to allow the New Year's Day football games to keep their already-sold cigarette ads, the prohibition was set to begin on at midnightEastern Standard Time January 2, 1971. Airing in prime time on the East Coast, the 1971 Orange Bowl thus became the last televised sporting event to carry cigarette ads, the final one (forWinston) airing at 10:54 p.m.^[12] (The last tobacco advertisement on network TV, forVirginia Slims, was shown at 11:59 p.m. during a break onThe Tonight Show).^[13]

The teams next met in the 1975 season opener at Lincoln, with the Cornhuskers prevailing 10–7. In the 1976 season opener at Baton Rouge, the top-ranked Cornhuskers escaped with a 6–6 tie after LSU's Mike Conway missed a 44-yard field goal in the closing seconds.

Nebraska won three bowl meetings vs. LSU in the 1980s: the1983 Orange Bowl,1985 Sugar Bowl and1987 Sugar Bowl.

• You Tube - 1971 Orange Bowl - NBC telecast

• 1970–71 NCAA football bowl games
• Orange Bowl
• LSU Tigers football bowl games
• Nebraska Cornhuskers football bowl games
• 1971 in sports in Florida
• January 1971 sports events in the United States
• American football competitions in Miami

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