1969 Sugar Bowl


The 1969 Sugar Bowl was the 35th edition of the college football bowl game, played at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday, January 1. It featured the fourth-ranked [1968 1968 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia Bulldogs] of the Southeastern Conference, and the #9 [1968 1975 Arkansas Razorbacks football team|Arkansas Razorbacks football team|Arkansas Razorbacks] of the Southwest Conference.
Underdog Arkansas won 16–2, and split end Chuck Dicus was named the outstanding player after catching twelve passes.

Teams

Arkansas

Guard Jim Barnes was a consensus All-American for the Razorbacks in 1968. Bill Burnett's 16 touchdowns scored tied him for eighth-most points scored nationally. The Hogs lost only once, to the #17 Texas Longhorns, 39–29. The Razorbacks and Longhorns thus shared the Southwest Conference crown for 1968, but Texas received the bid to the Cotton Bowl based upon the head-to-head victory.

Georgia

Vince Dooley's Georgia Bulldogs went 8–0–2 and won the SEC, only tying Tennessee and Houston. The Bulldogs' ferocious defense was anchored by consensus All-American end Bill Stanfill.

Game summary

Georgia's number-one ranked defense matched up against the ninth-ranked offense of Arkansas on New Year's Day in New Orleans. The first game of a major bowl tripleheader on NBC, it kicked off at 1 pm CST.
The first quarter was scoreless; in the second, Arkansas quarterback Bill Montgomery threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Chuck Dicus, but Georgia got a safety to pull within 7–2. Arkansas kicker Bob White made a 34-yard field goal and the Razorbacks led 10–2 at halftime. After a scoreless third quarter, White kicked field goals of 24 and 31 yards in the fourth quarter to seal the Arkansas win at 16–2.
The game had twenty punts and eleven turnovers.

Aftermath

After twelve years, this was the last Sugar Bowl on NBC; it returned to ABC in January 1970.
Arkansas returned to the Sugar Bowl the following year; Georgia's next major bowl was seven years later in the Cotton Bowl, also against Arkansas, and returned to the Sugar Bowl the following year.
The teams next met in the 1991 Independence Bowl, with Georgia winning 24-15. It was Arkansas' last football game before joining the SEC; the teams met for the first time as conference foes during the 1992 season.