1974 Tangerine Bowl

1974 Tangerine Bowl
Miami Redskins Georgia Bulldogs (9–0–1) (6–5) MAC SEC 21 10 Head coach:  Dick Crum Head coach:  Vince Dooley AP Coaches 15 13
1 2 3 4 Total Miami 14 7 0 0 21 Georgia 3 0 7 0 10
Date	December 21, 1974
Season	1974
Stadium	Tangerine Bowl
Location	Orlando, Florida
MVP	Sherman Smith, Miami (back)[1] Brad Cousino & John Roudabush, Miami (linemen)[1]
Referee	Robert Aillet (SEC; split crew: SEC, MAC) [2]
Attendance	20,246[1]
United States TV coverage
Network	Mizlou[1]

The 1974 Tangerine Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 21, 1974, at the Tangerine Bowl stadium in Orlando, Florida. The game featured the Georgia Bulldogs and the Miami Redskins (located in Oxford, Ohio and now nicknamed the RedHawks).

Background

Miami was champion of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) for the second straight year, while having a season with no losses for the second straight year as well, earning another Tangerine trip. Georgia finished tied for second in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), despite losing three of their last four games. This was their first Tangerine Bowl appearance.

Delays with stadium renovation work had led to the previous Tangerine Bowl game being played in Gainesville; this year the game returned to Orlando, where it has remained since.

Game summary

On the first play of scrimmage, the Bulldogs fumbled the ball and Miami recovered it at the Georgia 25. Rob Carpenter scored on a one-yard touchdown run to give Miami a 7–0 lead. Despite driving into Miami territory, Georgia settled for an Allan Leavitt field goal that narrowed the lead to 7–3. Sherman Smith threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Taylor to make it 14–3. A fumble at the Bulldogs 22 gave the ball back to the Redskins, who capitalized with a touchdown run by Smith to make it 21–3. All Georgia could do in the second half was make the score 21–10 on a Ray Goff touchdown plunge, but Georgia could not get any more points.^[3][4]

Aftermath

Miami returned to the Tangerine Bowl the following year, after winning their third straight MAC title. Georgia returned to the Tangerine Bowl ten years later; by then the game had changed names and was the 1984 Florida Citrus Bowl.

Statistics

Statistics	Miami (Ohio)	Georgia
First downs	18	17
Rushing yards	228	74
Passing yards	14	210
Total yards	242	284
Return yardage	0	0
Fumbles–fumbles lost	3–3	5–2
Punts–average	5–36.0	4–30.0
Penalties–penalty yards	3–25	2–24

References

1. Guest, Bill (December 22, 1974). "Another Tangerine Win For Miami, 21-10". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved March 18, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
2. "Typical Miami Hurry: Dressed Out 90 Minutes Before Game". Orlando Sentinel. December 22, 1974. Retrieved March 18, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
3. "Bowl History - Dogs fall to Miami 21-10 in 1974 Tangerine Bowl" (PDF). grfx.cstv.com. p. 81. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 11, 2018.
4. "Miami University Football 2015 guide" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 22, 2015.