1969 Orange Bowl

The 1969 Orange Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Background

The Jayhawks were co-champion of the Big Eight Conference with Oklahoma, who went to the 1968 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl. This was Kansas' first conference title since 1947. This was their first bowl game since 1961 and first Orange Bowl since 1948. Penn State was going for their first ever undefeated season, though they could not win the national title due to being ranked #3. This was their first Orange Bowl appearance.

Game summary

Reeves 2-yard run (Bell kick); PSU: Pittman 13-yard run (Garthwaite kick); KU: Riggins 1-yard run (Bell kick); PSU: Burkhart 3-yard run (Campbell run)

Mike Reeves gave Kansas a 7-0 lead on his touchdown run, but Penn State tied the game before halftime on Charlie Pittman's touchdown run. John Riggins gave the Jayhawks a 14-7 lead on his touchdown plunge in the fourth quarter. Later in the game, Kansas had another chance to score with the ball at Penn State's 14 on fourth down with one yard to go. Instead of kicking the field goal, they went for the first down, but Riggins was stuffed for no gain. With 1:16 to go in the game, a blocked punt gave the ball back to Penn State at the 50. Bob Campbell caught a pass from Chuck Burkhart and was tacked at the 3 yard line. Campbell scored on a touchdown plunge to make it 14-13, pending the conversion attempt. Penn State's conversion attempt fell short, but they were given another chance due to Kansas having 12 men on the field. On their second attempt, Campbell scored on a touchdown run to give the Nittany Lions the win. ^[1]

Aftermath

Kansas did not return to an Orange Bowl until 2008. Penn State returned to the Orange Bowl the following year.

Statistics

Statistics	Penn State	Kansas
First Downs	17	16
Rushing Yards	207	76
Passing Yards	154	165
Total Yards	361	241
Interceptions	2	1
Punts-Average	9-38.1	10-38.3
Fumbles-Lost	2-2	2-0
Penalties-Yards	1-15	2-10

References

^ http://game.orangebowl.org/orange-bowl-history/the-history-of-the-orange-bowl/1960s/1969/

[1] ttp://game.orangebowl.org/orange-bowl-history/the-history-of-the-orange-bowl/1960s/1969/

[1]

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History & conference tie-ins	History Miami Orange Bowl Hard Rock Stadium College Football Playoff Broadcasters Atlantic Coast Conference Big Ten Conference Southeastern Conference Notre Dame
Games	1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 (January) 1996 (December) 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 (January) 2014 (December) 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 (January) 2021 (December) 2022 2023
Notes	The game was also the national title game (Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, or Bowl Championship Series) in 1994, 1995, 1998, 2001, and 2005. There was an Orange Bowl in January and December in 1996, 2014, and 2021. The 2015, 2018, and 2021 (December) editions were College Football Playoff semifinals.