Houston 17
Nebraska 14

Jan. 1, 1980 • 1:10 p.m. Central
Cotton Bowl • Dallas, TX • CBS
1st2nd3rd4th F 
Houston0701017
Nebraska700714
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 
Gary145
Lindquist538
Means22
McCrady11
Davies11
Seibel11
Weinmaster2241/1
Horn415
Clark331/1
Cole1231/1
Nelson55101/4
Pensick112
Barnett369
Potadle22
LeRoy7181/2
Baker93121/6
Vering73101/1
B.Williams6391/4
Ruud11
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 
Cook22
Hatfield538
Chumchal22
Bradley325
Ebner5381/2
D.Love628
Redman11
Proctor314
Oglesby55
H.Taylor22
Wilkerson246
Monroe11
Hodge358
Turner6612
Adams11
Wright11

Coverage

Recap
Rod Horn

Nebraska’s Rod Horn goes high as Terry Elston looks for a receiver. | Courtesy of Nebraska Athletics

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.

1980 Cotton Bowl TD Terry ElstonBrent Williams has Terry Elston by the jersey, but it isn’t enough to stop the Houston QB from scoring in the second quarter. · Wichita Falls (Texas) Times Record News · Newspapers.com

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.

1980 Cotton Bowl fumbleThe Cougars’ John Newhouse fumbles on a hit by Derrie Nelson in the fourth quarter. Bill Barnett recovered at the Houston 31, giving the Huskers a short field for their go-ahead touchdown. · The Lincoln Star · Newspapers.com

IMAGE HERE
LJS & OWH
More Sources
Pregame & team info
1979 schedule
05/05Red 27, White 13
09/15Utah St.W 35-14
09/22@ IowaW 24-21
09/29Penn St.W 42-17
10/06New Mexico St.W 57-0
10/13KansasW 42-0
10/20@ Oklahoma St.W 36-0
10/27ColoradoW 38-10
11/03@ MissouriW 23-20
11/10@ Kansas St.W 21-12
11/17Iowa St.W 34-3
11/24@ OklahomaL 14-17
01/01HoustonL 14-17
* Article may require subscription