1956 Orange Bowl

The 1956 Orange Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Oklahoma Sooners and the Maryland Terrapins. The game was played on January 2, because New Year's Day was a Sunday.

Background

Oklahoma and Maryland were both champion of the Big Seven Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference and both were undefeated and ranked in the top 3. This was Oklahoma's 9th conference title under Wilkinson and 10th straight overall, with a 30 game winning streak. Maryland shared the ACC title with Duke, though the Terrapins reached the Orange Bowl for the first time since 1954, which was also against Oklahoma. Tatum had coached the Sooners in 1946 before departing for Maryland.

Game summary

Maryland scored on a 15 yard touchdown run by Ed Vereb to make it 6-0 at halftime. The Sooners took over in the second half, starting with Tommy McDonald's 32 yard punt return that gave them the ball at the Terrapin 46. Seven plays later, McDonald score on a 4 yard touchdown run, the highlight being the Sooner offense running 3 plays in 38 seconds. The next Sooner possession used the hurry-up offense again, leading to a Jay O'Neal touchdown sneak to make it 14-6. Maryland tried to narrow the lead, but Jerry Tubbs intercepted a pass at the Sooner 26. Maryland tried to score again in the fourth, even reaching Oklahoma's 30. However, Carl Dodd intercepted Lynn Beightol's pass and returned it 82 yards for the touchdown, sealing the victory for the Sooners and the championship.^[1]

Aftermath

The Terrapins did not return to the Orange Bowl again until 2002. As for the Sooners, they reached the Orange Bowl two years later, in 1958. The win streak went to 47 until it ended in November 1957.

Statistics

Statistics	Oklahoma	Maryland
First Downs	16	9
Rushing Yards	202	187
Passing Yards	53	46
Total Yards	255	233
Interceptions	1	3
Punts-Average	8/34.5	7/40.4
Fumbles-Lost	1/1	3/2
Penalties-Yards	3/35	7/61

References

↑ http://game.orangebowl.org/orange-bowl-history/the-history-of-the-orange-bowl/1950s/1956/

Orange Bowl Game

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 1996 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2014 2015 2016

Notes	The game was also the national title game for either the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, or Bowl Championship Series in 1993, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2001, and 2005. There was an Orange Bowl in January and December in 1996 and 2014. The game was a semifinal for the College Football Playoff in its 2015 edition.

Maryland Terrapins bowl games

Oklahoma Sooners bowl games

Pound sign (#) denotes BCS National Championship Game.

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