The1979 Orange Bowl was the 45thedition of thecollege footballbowl game, played at theOrange Bowl inMiami,Florida, on Monday, January 1. Part of the1978–79 bowl game season, it matched thefourth-rankedOklahoma Sooners and #6Nebraska Cornhuskers, both of theBig Eight Conference.^[2][3][4]

This matchup was an anomaly: It featured a rare rematch of conference rivals that played every regular season. Nebraska had upset #1 Oklahoma 17–14 on November 11 inLincoln,^[5] their first win in therivalry since theGame of the Centuryin1971,^[6] and appeared headed toward a national championship showdown withPenn State. But unrankedMissouri(6–4) stunned the #2 Huskers 35–31 in Lincoln the followingweek,^[7] dropping Nebraska into a tie with Oklahoma for theBig Eight championship and knocking them out of the national championshippicture.^[8][9]

Penn State instead facedAlabama for the national title in theSugar Bowl, and the Orange Bowl found itself with a selection dilemma. Nebraska earned the Big Eight's automatic Orange Bowl berth by virtue of its victory over the Sooners, but, with Penn State andNotre Dame (which accepted an invitation to theCotton Bowl) off the board, the Orange Bowl committee decided to set up abowl rematch with Oklahoma to create the best possiblematchup.^[8][9] This was the last time a non-championship postseason bowl featured two teams from the same conference until the2015 season at theArizona Bowl,^[10] and remains (as of 2019) the last non-championship bowl to be a rematch of a regular-season conference game.^{[citation needed]}

Despite the road loss to the Huskers in the regular season, Oklahoma was a double-digit favorite.^[1]

UnderdogNebraska scored first on a 21-yard touchdown pass fromTom Sorley to Tim Smith for a 7–0 lead. Oklahoma tied the score on a 3-yard scamper byHeisman TrophywinnerBilly Sims, and then went ahead in the second quarter when quarterbackThomas Lott scored on a three-yard run, and took the 14–7 lead into halftime.^{[citation needed]}

The revenge-minded Sooners then took control. In the third quarter, Sims scored again an eleven-yard run. Field goals were traded, then Lott scored from two yards out, increasing Oklahoma's lead to 31–10.^{[citation needed]}

Nebraska rallied late, withRick Berns scoring on a one-yard run, and then Sorley threw a two-yard strike to tight endJunior Miller as time expired. Oklahoma prevailed31–24 to finish at11–1, avenging its only loss of the season.^{[citation needed]}

The game was televised byNBC and the traditional halftime Festival of Lights show was a tribute to "the greatest entertainment phenomenon in America in 1978:Disco!" Besides dancing to recorded disco songs, there was an appearance byKC and the Sunshine Band.^[11]

First quarter

• Nebraska – Tim Smith 21-yard pass fromTom Sorley (Billy Todd kick), 8:29
• Oklahoma –Billy Sims 3-yard run (Uwe von Schamann kick), 0:01

Second quarter

• Oklahoma –Thomas Lott 3-yard run (von Schamann kick), 6:22

Third quarter

• Oklahoma – Sims 11-yard run (von Schamann kick), 13:30
• Oklahoma – von Schamann 26-yard field goal, 9:18
• Nebraska – Todd 31-yard field goal, 4:24
• Oklahoma – Lott 2-yard run (von Schamann kick), 0:15

Fourth quarter

• Nebraska –Rick Berns 1-yard run (Todd kick), 9:12
• Nebraska –Junior Miller 2-yard pass from Sorley (Todd kick), 0:00

Source:^{[2][3][12][13]}

Statistics	Oklahoma	Nebraska
First Downs	17	27
Rushes–yards	53–292	54–217
Passing yards	47	220
Passes (C–A–I)	2–3–0	18–31–2
Total Offense	56–339	85–437
Punts–average	3–39.3	2–37.5
Fumbles–lost	1–1	0–0
Turnovers	1	2
Penalties–yards	6–50	8–96

Source:^{[2][3][12][13]}

Oklahoma (11–1) climbed to third in thefinal AP poll and Nebraska (9–3) fell to eighth.

• Nebraska–Oklahoma football rivalry

• http://www.huskerpedia.com/games/1978/12oklahoma.html

• 1978–79 NCAA football bowl games
• Orange Bowl
• Nebraska Cornhuskers football bowl games
• Oklahoma Sooners football bowl games
• January 1979 sports events in the United States
• 1979 in sports in Florida
• American football competitions in Miami

• Use mdy dates from August 2023
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from October 2024