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Liberty Bowl 1964
Utah 32 West Virginia 6
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By A. L. Hardman
They also added a couple of field goals by their All-American end, Roy Jefferson, and picked up two other touchdowns- one on a 38-yard pass play- to ground the Mountaineers into the turf of big Convention Hall in the first indoor bowl game ever played.
It was the first time any Utah team had ever won as many as nine games in one season- the Redskins' final record now being 9-2- and it was the fourth licking in 11 games for coach Gene Corum's West Virginians.
A disappointing crowd of only 6,050 fans saw the game, which was telecast coast to coast over 210 stations by the American Broadcasting Co., but because ABC paid $95,000 for the TV rights, each team will collect approximately $60,000 from the game, promoter Bud Dudley of Philadelphia announced
Utah went into the game as a five-point favorite but so overwhelmed West Virginia with its speed and quickness that the Mountaineers never had a chance. They trailed, 19-0, at the half and then surrendered touchdowns in each of the two closing quarters.
If there was any consolation coming from the game for the WVU eleven it was the fact the they scored a touchdown on the Redskins, who finished the season as the fifth best defensive team in America. Only three other teams had managed touchdowns on the co-champions of the Western Athletic Conference in their 11 game schedule.
The WVU touchdown came with 10 seconds left to play in the third quarter on a seven yard pass from quarterback Allen McCune to end Milt Clegg, a combination which had worked wonders for the Mountaineers through the late stages of this season.
But the score didn't matter. Utah was ahead 25-0 at the time and had its seventh straight win already in the bag.
The Mountaineer offense just wasn't clicking in the first half and not very much better in the second half. And time and again the quick-charging Utah line sat WVU'S defenders back on their heels.
The Redskins moved from their own 35 to get to the WVU 15 midway in the first quarter, despite three five yard penalties, then the talented Jefferson booted a field goal from the 23 yard line.
A pass interference call kept a drive alive in the second quarter and the Utes finally capitalized on it by scoring their first touchdown on an 11 yard spring by quarterback Pokey Allen. Jefferson kicked the point.
Jefferson booted a 25 yard goal a moment later after getting the ball on a fumble by WVU halfback John Piscorik and then, before the half was over, the slippery Coleman wiggled his way through a horde of WVU tacklers and scooted 53 yards for a touchdown, running the score to 19-0.
For all practical purposes the game was over at this point and what happened in the second half only added to a rather miserable ball game played by two mismatched teams.
With Coleman on the bench, Ireland, his understudy, left little to be desired in the running department as he streaked 47 yards for the Utes' touchdown in the third quarter, which ran the score to 25-0.
Then, after WVU had scored, the Redskins waited until the fourth quarter to add their last score on a 38-yard pass from quarterback Dick Groth to end Bill Morley. This score came after one of the four McCune passes Utah picked off, had set up the score. Fullback Tom Hawks had snared the ball on the Ute 41 and they had moved it on small gains to set up the scoring play.
Coleman, used only sparingly in the second half, went home with 154 yards rushing marked to his credit and Ireand had 74. The Utes' big fullack, Allen Jacobs, had 57 yards but three other backs shared in the total of 323 yards Utah recorded with its running.
Fullback Dick Leftridge, with 73 yards, was WVU's biggest ground gainer while McCune, completing 13 of 28 passes despite his poor first half, had 123 yards to his credit for his aerial attempts against the fine Utah pass defense.
All told, the Utes had 466 yards for their offensive as compared to 228 for West Virginia. It was West Virginia's second appearance in Convention Hall, the Mountaineers having had better luck in their first game here in 1934, when they beat W. & J., 14-12.
The defeat left the Mountaineers all even in four bowl games, having won twice in the Sun Bowl and lost in the Sugar Bowl before this game Saturday. The loss to Utah was the worst they had ever suffered in a post-season game. It was only Utah's second bowl venture, its first one having been a victory in the 1939 Sun Bowl.
The Utes had given up only 62 points in their 10 games prior to the Liberty Bowl, for an average yield of 6.2 points per game. At one stage this season, they went 24 quarters without allowing a touchdown.
The two teams were honored at a big victory ball here Saturday night, at which time the players and teams received trophies.
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Utah's Pokey Allen scores first touchdown. |
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Roy Jefferson is pulled down by Jim Sypult. |
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Merlin Driggs catches pass from Allen. |
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Driggs is hammered by Martha. |
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The Atlantic City Convention Hall hosted the first indoor bowl game. |
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Attendance: 6,050
Scoring Summary
First Quarter UU–Jefferson 29 field goal
Second Quarter UU–Allen 11 run (Jefferson kick) UU–Jefferson 32 field goal UU–Coleman 53 run (pass failed)
Third Quarter UU–Ireland 47 run (run failed) WV–Clegg 6 pass from McCune (pass failed)
Fourth Quarter UU–Morley 33 pass from Groth (Pullman kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing WVU- Leftridge 11-73, Madison 8-30, Utah- Coleman 15-154, Ireland 7-77, Jacobs 12-57
Passing WVU- McCune 13-28-123 UTAH- Allen 5-11-72, Groth 6-12-71
Receiving WVU- Clegg 7-92, Dunlevy 3-19 UTAH- Jefferson 3-46, Driggs 4-41, Pease 2-17, Morley 1-33
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Atlantic City, NJ- There is no substitute
for speed in football and the University of Utah had it in abundance
here Saturday to rout West Virginia's Mountaineers, 32-6, in a
history-making Liberty Bowl football game. The Redskins, closing out the best year in
their gridiron history, sprang a couple of fleet running halfbacks,
senior Ron Coleman and junior Andy Ireland, loose for touchdown runs of
53 and 47 yards respectively.
