1955 Orange Bowl

1955 Orange Bowl
21st Orange Bowl
Duke Blue Devils Nebraska Cornhuskers (7–2–1) (6–4) ACC MVIAA 34 7 Head coach:  William Murray Head coach:  Bill Glassford AP Coaches 14 14
1 2 3 4 Total Duke 0 14 6 14 34 Nebraska 0 0 7 0 7
Date	January 1, 1955
Season	1954
Stadium	Miami Orange Bowl
Location	Miami, Florida
Favorite	Duke by 14 [1]
Referee	Cliff Ogden (MVIAA)
Attendance	68,750
United States TV coverage
Network	CBS
Announcers	Bob Neal
Orange Bowl  < 1954   1956 >

The 1955 Orange Bowl was the twenty-first edition of the college football bowl game, held on January 1, 1955 at the Miami Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. It matched the Duke Blue Devils of the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Nebraska Cornhuskers of the MVIAA. In the first Orange Bowl appearance for each team, fourteenth-ranked Duke won 34–7 in front of a record crowd. ^[2]

Teams

Duke

Main article: 1954 Duke Blue Devils football team

The Blue Devils won all four of their conference games; they tied Purdue and lost to both Army and Navy. This was Duke's fourth bowl appearance and its first in ten years. United States Vice President Richard Nixon, an alumnus of the Duke University School of Law, attended the game. ^[2]

Nebraska

Main article: 1954 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

Nebraska entered 6–4, the MVIAA runner-up to undefeated Oklahoma. NU lost to OU 55–7 in the regular season's penultimate week, but the Sooners were not invited to the Orange Bowl as conference rules prevented consecutive appearances. ^[3] Nebraska was making its second bowl appearance and first in fourteen years.

Game

Heavily favored Duke opened the scoring early in the second quarter, and intercepted Nebraska quarterback Don Erway on NU's ensuing drive to set up another touchdown, taking a 14–0 lead into halftime. ^[2] Early in the second half, the Cornhuskers took advantage of a botched Blue Devils punt to cut the deficit in half, but it would be NU's only points of the game. Duke took control behind All-American running back Bob Pascal, who both teams with ninety-one rushing yards. ^[2] Three late Blue Devils touchdowns sealed a dominant victory. ^[4]

Scoring summary

Qtr	Team	Detail [5]	Duke	NU
2	Duke	Bob Pascal 2-yd run (Jim Nelson kick)	7	0
	Duke	Jerry Kocourek 5-yd pass from Jerry Barger (Nelson kick)	14	0
3	NU	Don Comstock 3-yd run (Bob Smith kick)	14	7
	Duke	Sonny Sorrell 5-yd pass from Barger (kick failed)	20	7
4	Duke	Nick McKeithan 1-yd run (Nelson kick)	27	7
	Duke	Sam Eberdt 3-yd run (Nelson kick)	34	7

Team statistics

Statistic [5]	Duke	Nebraska
First downs	23	6
Rushes–yards	64–288	34–84
Comp.–att.–yards	7–13–82	1–9–26
Total offense	370	110
Turnovers	1	2
Punts–average	5–23.6	7–28.9
Penalties–yards	2–30	2–20

References

1. "Busy scoreboard eyed as Duke, Nebraska tangle". The Spokesman-Review . Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. January 1, 1955. p. 8.
2. Ben Funk (January 2, 1955). "Duke rips Huskers 34–7". St. Petersburg Times . Associated Press. p. 1C.
3. "Oklahoma tramples Nebraska, 55 to 7". Pittsburgh Press . United Press International. November 21, 1954. p. 2, section 3.
4. Floyd Olds (January 2, 1955). "Helpless Nebraskans Absorb 34-7 Licking". Omaha World-Herald . Archived from the original on April 20, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2025.
5. "Blue Devils roll to Orange Bowl win". HuskerMax. Retrieved August 16, 2025.