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1976 Independence Bowl

Field	Value
game_name	Independence Bowl
date_game_played	December 13
year_game_played	1976
football_season	1976
stadium	State Fair Stadium
city	Shreveport, Louisiana
visitor_school	Tulsa University
visitor_name_short	Tulsa
visitor_nickname	Golden Hurricane
visitor_record	7–3–1
visitor_conference	Missouri Valley Conference
visitor_coach	F. A. Dry
visitor_1q	7
visitor_2q	0
visitor_3q	6
visitor_4q	3
home_school	McNeese State University
home_name_short	McNeese State
home_nickname	Cowboys
home_record	9–2
home_conference	Southland Conference
home_coach	Jack Doland
home_1q	3
home_2q	3
home_3q	8
home_4q	6
MVP	Terry McFarland (offense)
Terry Clark (defense)
attendance	19,164
first_game_ever_played	yes

Terry Clark (defense) The 1976 Independence Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game between the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and the McNeese State Cowboys on December 13, 1976, at State Fair Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. McNeese State upset a heavily favored Tulsa 20–16. This was the first-ever edition of the Independence Bowl, which drew its name from the ongoing celebrations of the United States Bicentennial.

Background

Between 1976–1980 the Independence Bowl featured the Southland Conference champion against an at-large opponent, with the Southland team playing host. McNeese State clinched the championship and spot in the bowl game after defeating 20–19 on November 20. For the at-large opponent the bowl organizers initially pursued Rutgers, which was then 10–0 and would finish the season undefeated. Rutgers declined the invitation, feeling snubbed by more prestigious bowls. Rebuffed, the organizers considered Tulsa, Cincinnati, Memphis State, Boston College, and Ball State before selecting Tulsa, co-champion of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Prior to the game, coverage favored Tulsa over McNeese State due in large part to sixteen of McNeese State's players being unable to play in the bowl. Ten players were declared ineligible because they had redshirted in their freshman year and were thus fifth-year seniors. At the time, NCAA rules prohibited such players from participating in postseason play. Six more players were suspended from the team for violating team and school rules. The players were accused of having a girl in their dormitory room, which McNeese State then prohibited. Some newspaper accounts alleged that "sexual molestation" had occurred. Even before the game was played F. A. Dry, Tulsa's head coach, had accepted the head coaching job at TCU, though he stayed on at Tulsa for the bowl game.

Scoring summary

References

(December 14, 1976). "McNeese Upsets Tulsa In Independence Bowl". [[Argus-Press]].
Otto, David. (2010). "Insiders' Guide to Shreveport". Globe Pequot.
"About the Southland".
(November 22, 1976). "Four make claim: Most bowl bids settled, who's No. 1?". [[Spokesman-Review]].
"Rutgers Votes to Skip Independence Bowl" in ''The Washington Post'' (23 November 1976). Page D6. (No further authorship information available).
(November 24, 1976). "Rutgers win streak on line". [[St. Joseph News-Press]].
(December 14, 1976). "McNeese wins despite problems". [[The Telegraph-Herald]].
Bonnette, Louis. (October 6, 2006). "Jim Murphy remembers the 1976 McNeese State football team". [[CBS Sports Network]].
(December 4, 1976). "Six Gridders Accused of Molesting Girl". [[Youngstown Vindicator]].
(November 29, 1976). "Dry Quits Tulsa Job". [[Spokane Daily Chronicle]].
(2010). "2010 Media Guide". [[Independence Bowl]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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