1977 Orange Bowl

The 1977 Orange Bowl featured a matchup between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Ohio State Buckeyes. The #12 Buffaloes came into the game from the Big Eight with an 8–3 record. The Buckeyes came out of the Big Ten with an 8-2-1 record, ranked 11th in the nation. This was the only Orange Bowl between 1976 and 1981 which did not feature Oklahoma, and the only one from 1976 through 1989 which did not include the Sooners or the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Colorado scored quickly, jumping out to an early 10-0 lead. However, Rod Gerald, who had not played since the seventh game of the season due to a bone chip in his lower back, came off the bench to lead the Bucks to its ninth win of the season.

Gerald rushed 14 times for 81 yards, including 17 on his first carry setting up a 36-yard scoring run by Jeff Logan. Ohio State was on the scoreboard with 3:11 to go in the first quarter.

The Buckeyes scored on their next two possessions with Tom Skladany’s 28-yard field goal with 9:33 left in the half and Pete Johnson’s 3-yard run with 24 seconds remaining before halftime. That capped a 99-yard drive after a blocked Colorado field goal attempt, and gave Ohio State the lead for good. Gerald ended the scoring with a 4-yard run with a minute left in the fourth quarter, and was named the back of the game.

1959 Orange Bowl

The 1959 Orange Bowl featured the Syracuse Orangemen and the Oklahoma Sooners in the 25th annual Orange Bowl.

Background

This was Oklahoma's 4th Orange Bowl in six seasons and 13th straight Big Seven Conference title while Syracuse was making their 2nd Orange Bowl appearancein six seasons.

Game summary

Oklahoma scored early with a Prentice Gautt rushing touchdown three minutes into the game. With the quarter running down, Syracuse fumbled the ball back to the Sooners after driving to the Sooners red zone. With 2:56 left in the quarter, Brewster Hobby caught a lateral and then passed to Ross Coyle, who ran 79 yards for the touchdown. After a scoreless second quarter, Hobby sealed the game when he returned a Syracuse punt 40 yards for a touchdown to make it 21-0. Mark Weber gave the Orangmen their only points of the game on his touchdown run after a 69 yard drive, but the conversion failed, as the two teams failed to score again. Despite Syracuse's run attack, 2 fumbles by the backs and 2 passes that were intercepted doomed the Orange as Oklahoma won their 4th Orange Bowl in six seasons.

1954 Orange Bowl

The 1954 Orange Bowl was a postseason American college football bowl game between the first-ranked Maryland Terrapins and the fourth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. It was the twentieth edition of the Orange Bowl and took place at the Orange Bowl stadium in Miami, Florida on January 1, 1954.

The game was the first Orange Bowl to feature tie-ins between the Big Seven Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champions. It was the first-ever meeting of the two teams. Maryland and Oklahoma were head coached by former colleagues Jim Tatum and Bud Wilkinson, respectively, who had previously coached together at the United States Navy's Iowa Pre-Flight School and the University of Oklahoma.

Pre-game buildup

The game was the first postseason bowl game in which the players were required to play on both the offense and defense. This was a result of the NCAA's newly instituted "one-platoon" rules that limited player substitutions. It also featured the Orange Bowl's first conference tie-in between the Big Seven and the ACC.

2015 Orange Bowl

The 2015 Capital One Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on December 31, 2015 at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The 82nd Orange Bowl was a College Football Playoff semifinal with the winner of the game competing against the winner of the 2015 Cotton Bowl: Alabama Crimson Tide football in the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship, which took place at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. It was one of the 2015–16 bowl games that concluded the 2015 FBS football season.

The game matched the undefeated and number 1 overall team in the nation, the Clemson Tigers, against the 1 loss Oklahoma Sooners.

This was the fifth overall meeting between these two teams, with Clemson winning the series 3–2. The game was a rematch of the previous year's Russell Athletic Bowl, which Clemson won 40–6.

Teams

The two participants for the game were two of the semifinalists which were the Clemson Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners.

Clemson

Clemson began the season hoping to improve on their 10-3 record from last year. In the preaseason poll, the Tigers ranked number 12, and to kick off the season, won their first 3 games. In their 4th game, they faced the undefeated and 6th ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish, with both teams having playoff aspirations. Despite leading for most of the game, the game came down to a key 2 point conversion stop by Clemson, essentially sealing the game for the Tigers. The Tigers then won 4 more games to finally reach the number 1 ranking in all of the polls, just in time for a huge matchup with the defending ACC Champions, the Florida State Seminoles. Despite losing for most of the first half, Clemson came back in the 2nd half to win the game, 23-13. The Tigers then won the rest of their games, including a matchup with North Carolina in the ACC Championship game. Clemson won the game 45-37, to give Clemson their first ACC Championship since 2011.