Houston 17Nebraska 14
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | F | ||
| Houston | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 17 | |
| Nebraska | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
First Quarter NEB: Jarvis Redwine 9 run (Sukup kick) 5:13 Second Quarter HOU: Terry Elston 8 run (Hatfield kick) 12:17 Fourth Quarter HOU: Ken Hatfield 41 field goal, 8:25 NEB: Jeff Finn 6 pass from Jeff Quinn (Sukup kick) 3:56 HOU: Eric Herring 6 pass from Elston (Hatfield kick) 0:12 NU UH First Downs .............. 13 18 Rushing ................. 7 11 Passing ................. 6 6 Penalty ................. 0 1 Rushes-Net Yards ..... 41-136 61-206 Yards Gained .......... 138 224 Yards Lost .............. 2 18 Net Yards Passing ........ 91 119 Comp-Att-Int .......11-22-1 9-19-0 Total Offensive ...... 63-227 80-325 Gain Per Play ......... 3.6 4.0 Fumbles-Lost ............ 1-1 7-3 Penalized-Yards ........ 7-90 2-22 Interceptions-Yards ..... 0-0 1-0 Punts-Average ....... 10-40.6 7-42.0 Punt Returns-Yds ....... 3-58 3-18 Kickoff Returns-Yds .... 3-44 3-64 Third-down conv. ....... 6/17 7/17 Fourth-down conv. ....... 0/1 2/3 Possession time ....... 27:29 32:31 ATTENDANCE: 72,032 Nebraskans in attendance: 13,683
RUSHING Att. Gain Lost Net TD Long Redwine ..... 17 60 2 58 1 9 Franklin .... 12 40 0 40 0 8 Hipp.......... 3 8 0 8 0 6 Quinn......... 3 7 0 7 0 4 Brown ........ 3 3 0 3 0 3 Miller........ 1 1 0 1 0 1 Steels ....... 1 0 0 0 0 0 Hager......... 1 5 0 5 0 5 Johnson ..... 2 14 0 14 0 14 Totals....... 41 138 2 136 1 14 PASSING Att. Com. Int. Yds TD Long Quinn........... 19 10 1 78 1 14 Redwine ......... 1 1 0 13 0 13 Miller........... 1 0 0 0 0 0 Hager .......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 Totals.......... 22 11 1 91 1 14 RECEIVING No. Yds. TD Long Brown, K. .. 5 30 0 9 Miller...... 2 26 0 14 Quinn....... 1 13 0 13 Smith, T. .. 1 10 0 10 Finn ....... 1 6 1 6 Redwine .... 1 6 0 6 Totals..... 11 91 1 14 RETURNS Punts Kickoffs Int. Liegl........ 3-58 Steels....... 3-44 Cole ........ 1 Totals....... 3-58 3-44 PUNTING No. Yds. Avg. Long Smith, T. ... 10 406 40.6 53 FIELD GOALS Att. Made Long Sukup .......... 1 0 0
| DEFENSE | UT | AT | TT | TFL |
| Gary | 1 | 4 | 5 | – |
| Lindquist | 5 | 3 | 8 | – |
| Means | 2 | – | 2 | – |
| McCrady | 1 | 1 | – | – |
| Davies | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Seibel | – | 1 | 1 | – |
| Weinmaster | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1/1 |
| Horn | 4 | 1 | 5 | – |
| Clark | 3 | – | 3 | 1/1 |
| Cole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1/1 |
| Nelson | 5 | 5 | 10 | 1/4 |
| Pensick | 1 | 1 | 2 | – |
| Barnett | 3 | 6 | 9 | – |
| Potadle | – | 2 | 2 | – |
| LeRoy | 7 | 1 | 8 | 1/2 |
| Baker | 9 | 3 | 12 | 1/6 |
| Vering | 7 | 3 | 10 | 1/1 |
| B.Williams | 6 | 3 | 9 | 1/4 |
| Ruud | – | 1 | 1 | – |
RUSHING Att. Gain Lost Net TD Long Clark........ 19 52 8 44 0 8 Newhouse .... 14 61 0 61 0 10 Brown......... 6 18 4 14 0 9 Elston....... 22 93 6 87 1 9 Totals....... 61 224 18 206 1 10 PASSING Att. Com. Int. Yds TD Long Elston.......... 16 9 0 119 1 27 Brown............ 3 0 0 0 0 0 Totals.......... 19 9 0 119 1 27 RECEIVING No. Yds. TD Long Herring..... 5 51 1 15 Phea ...... 2 47 0 27 Miller...... 1 18 0 18 Clark....... 1 3 0 3 Totals ..... 9 119 1 27 RETURNS Punts Kickoffs Int. Phea ........ 3-18 Wright ...... 3-64 Bradley...... 1-0 Totals....... 3-18 3-64 1-0 PUNTING No. Yds. Avg. Long Ford ......... 7 294 42.0 50 FIELD GOALS Att. Made Long Hatfield ....... 2 1 41
| DEFENSE | UT | AT | TT | TFL | |
| Cook | 2 | – | 2 | – | |
| Hatfield | 5 | 3 | 8 | – | |
| Chumchal | 2 | – | 2 | – | |
| Bradley | 3 | 2 | 5 | – | |
| Ebner | 5 | 3 | 8 | 1/2 | |
| D.Love | 6 | 2 | 8 | – | |
| Redman | – | 1 | 1 | – | |
| Proctor | 3 | 1 | 4 | – | |
| Oglesby | 5 | – | 5 | – | |
| H.Taylor | – | 2 | 2 | – | |
| Wilkerson | 2 | 4 | 6 | – | |
| Monroe | 1 | – | 1 | – | |
| Hodge | 3 | 5 | 8 | – | |
| Turner | 6 | 6 | 12 | – | |
| Adams | 1 | – | 1 | – | |
| Wright | 1 | – | 1 | – |
Coverage
Recap
Cougars
nip Huskers
at the wire
Cougars nip Huskers at the wire
It came down to a game of seconds as Houston, the Southwestern Conference champion, defeated Nebraska, runner-up in the Big Eight, 17-14 in the 44th annual Cotton Bowl game in Dallas.
With 5:13 left in the opening quarter, the Huskers struck first when junior I-back Jarvis Redwine scored on a nine-yard run to cap an 85-yard drive. Houston came back strong and marched 71 yards to score early in the second quarter on an eight-yard run by substitute quarterback Terry Elston.
The 7-7 tie is how things stood until midway through the fourth quarter when Houston’s Ken Hatfield booted a 41-yard field goal to give the Cougars a 10-7 lead with 8:25 left in the game. After a fumble recovery by Bill Barnett gave Nebraska the ball at the Houston 31, Nebraska regained the lead, 14-10, on a six-yard pass from quarterback Jeff Quinn to junior tight end Jeff Finn with 3:39 remaining.
Houston took the ensuing kickoff and drove 60 yards in 12 plays, down to the NU six yard line. On fourth and goal, Elston threaded the ball between three Nebraska defenders in the end zone and Eric Herring caught it for the winning score with 12 seconds left.
Full recap here.
LJS & OWH
More Sources
Pregame & team info
1979 schedule
| 05/05 | Red 27, White 13 | |
| 09/15 | Utah St. | W 35-14 |
| 09/22 | @ Iowa | W 24-21 |
| 09/29 | Penn St. | W 42-17 |
| 10/06 | New Mexico St. | W 57-0 |
| 10/13 | Kansas | W 42-0 |
| 10/20 | @ Oklahoma St. | W 36-0 |
| 10/27 | Colorado | W 38-10 |
| 11/03 | @ Missouri | W 23-20 |
| 11/10 | @ Kansas St. | W 21-12 |
| 11/17 | Iowa St. | W 34-3 |
| 11/24 | @ Oklahoma | L 14-17 |
| 01/01 | Houston | L 14-17 |