1975 Fiesta Bowl

The Cornhuskers started the season off 10-0 and had risen from being ranked #6 in the preseason to #2 in the AP Polls and were set up for a Big 8 title and potential national championship hopes before losing to Oklahoma in the last game of the season that cost them a full share of the Big 8 Conference title. The Sun Devils won their 5th WAC title in six years and were appearing in their fourth Fiesta Bowl in five years. This was Nebraska's first ever Fiesta Bowl.

Game summary

Ultimately, it was Danny Kush started and ultimately ended the scoring in this game that arguably put the game on the map. He gave ASU an early lead in the first quarter, but Monte Anthony gave Nebraska the lead on his touchdown run. With less than a minute remaining in the half, the Sun Devils would drive down the field and narrow the lead to 1 with another Kush field goal. Anthony added in another touchdown run in the third quarter to make Nebraska's lead 14-6. Trailing once again, John Jefferson would catch a touchdown pass from Fred Mortensen, who had taken over at QB after Sproul was briefly hurt on a sneak earlier in the game. Wanting to tie the game, Larry Mucker caught a pass from Mortensen to convert the conversion and make it 14-14. After Nebraska failed to make a successful drive, ASU was given the ball back. Dennis Sproul, ready to QB for ASU after a brief injury, drove his team down the field and Kush kicked a 29-yard field goal with 4:50 remaining in the lead to give Arizona State the lead as the Sun Devils held Nebraska scoreless the rest of the game as ASU won their fourth Fiesta Bowl. John Jefferson was named Offensive MVP after catching 8 passes for 115 yards. Despite outgaining ASU on rushing, ASU outyarded them in passing and total yards and had less turnovers (2 to Nebraska's 3) while only needing one touchdown the whole game.^[1]

Aftermath

Arizona State would finish ranked #2 in the final AP Polls, their highest finish in school history. They would win one more WAC title before moving to the Pacific-10 Conference in 1978. Both teams would return multiple times to the Fiesta Bowl in later years, Nebraska five times and ASU twice.

Statistics

Statistics	ASU	Nebraska
First Downs	20	20
Yards Rushing	162	198
Yards Passing	173	90
Return Yards	0	20
Total Yards	335	308
Punts-Average	5-37.2	7-39.4
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	2-2
Interceptions	2	1
Penalties-Yards	6-54	4-38

References

↑ "1975 Fiesta Bowl - Arizona State vs. Nebraska". fiestabowl.org. Retrieved 2015-01-03.

Fiesta Bowl Game
History & conference tie-ins	History Sun Devil Stadium University of Phoenix Stadium College Football Playoff Broadcasters College Football Playoff At-Large Group of Five Bid
Games	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2014 2016 2016
Notes	The game was also the national title game for either the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, or Bowl Championship Series in 1996, 1999, and 2003. There was a Fiesta Bowl in January and December in 1997, 2014, and 2016. The game was a College Football Playoff semifinal in its December 2016 edition.

Arizona State Sun Devils bowl games

Nebraska Cornhuskers bowl games

Pound sign (#) denotes national championship game.

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