1962 Gotham Bowl

The 1962 Gotham Bowl was a college football bowl game at Yankee Stadium in New York City, between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Miami Hurricanes.^[1][2]

Background

The Cornhuskers finished third in the Big Eight Conference under first year head coach Bob Devaney, but they were in a bowl game for the first time since January 1955. It was the second straight bowl for the Hurricanes; they lost fell by one point to Syracuse in the Liberty Bowl the previous year. A week before the game, most newspaper workers in New York City went on strike, which limited coverage of the game in the city.

The invitation process was also poorly handled. Nebraska only agreed to play 11 days before the game was to be played. Even then, the game almost didn't happen. The pilot of the Cornhuskers' team plane refused to take off until he received word that the expenditures check cleared. The temperature at kickoff was a damp 14 °F (−10 °C). While attendance was officially announced as 6,166, only a couple of thousand people were actually in the stadium.

Game summary

First quarter

• Nebraska – Bill Thornton 2 run (Dennis Claridge run failed), 7:21 remaining
• Miami – Ben Rizzo 10 pass from George Mira (Bobby Wilson kick failed), 0:29 remaining

Second quarter

• Miami – Nick Spinnelli 30 pass from Mira (Mira pass failed), 12:31 remaining
• Nebraska – Willie Ross 92 kickoff return (Rudy Johnson kick), 12:18 remaining
• Miami – Nick Ryder 1 run (Ryder pass from Mira), 7:20 remaining
• Nebraska – Mike Eger 6 pass from Claridge (Johnson kick), 0:42 remaining

Third quarter

• Miami – John Bennett 3 run (Wilson kick), 8:44 remaining
• Nebraska – Thornton 1 run (Claridge run), 0:08 remaining

Fourth quarter

• Nebraska – Ross 1 run (Thornton run), 13:32 remaining
• Miami – Ryder 1 run (Wilson kick), 9:29 remaining

Mira was driving his team for the win in the closing minutes, but his pass was intercepted by Bob Brown, as the Cornhuskers held on to win in the last ever Gotham Bowl.^[1][2][3]

Aftermath

Though the Gotham Bowl was disbanded, postseason football returned to New York with the advent of the Pinstripe Bowl, in 2010. Nebraska returned to bowl action the following year in the Orange Bowl. Miami returned to bowl action in 1966. The two teams would meet up five more times (1984, 1989, 1992, 1995 & 2002) over the next four decades, with all those games helping to determine the national champion.

Statistics

References