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 Hungry Tulane ruined Colorado's return to the Liberty Bowl and the
Green Wave walked off with a stunning 17-3 upset of the Buffs as 44,640
fans shivered in the cold at Memphis Memorial Stadium. A two-touchdown
underdog to mighty Buffalos, Tulane celebrated its first bowl trip in 31
years by pulling off the biggest upset of the 1970 bowl season.
Colorado, playing without injured quarterback Jimmy Bratten, and going
with soph Paul Arendt, mounted little offense and fell to the emotional
Tulane effort. CU had come into the game only 6-4 but had upset powers
Penn State and Sugar Bowl-bound Air Force during the season.
Throughout New Orleans that fall - on the radio and television airwaves,
billboards and month department store billings - reminders of "The Year
of the Green" were evident. The Greenies were excellent at times. The
longest scoring play against Tulane all season was 23 yards; in its last
five games no opponent was able to produce a touchdown after taking over
the 50-yard line or beyond; and Tulane limited its opponents to a paltry
average of 107 yards in the air.
Tulane ranked sixth nationally in defense with a 7-3 record heading into
their annual season-ender with LSU, and held high interest of a glut of
December bowls. "Tulane has been on our list of prospects for the last
three weeks," said Harrison Kohl of the Sun Bowl. The Liberty Bowl's Bud
Dudley was enamored with Tulane, hinting a victory over the Tigers would
put the Wave at the head of his list.
On the day of the game, an Associated Press dispatch out of Memphis said
Tulane would get the invitation if it beat LSU. It wasn't to be. The
Bayou Bengals won, 26-14, though Tulane got a measure of satisfaction
from the first of its two second-half touchdowns - the first running
touchdown scored on LSU all season.
There was a great deal of disappointment - none deeper than Dudley's. He
still was impressed with Tulane, however, and convinced the Liberty Bowl
selection committee the Green Wave was worth inviting. Dudley went out
on a limb, but Tulane received a bid to play the University of Colorado.
To put into perspective the significance of the invitation, remember it
had been 30 years since Tulane's last bowl game and that was as Adolf
Hitler was kicking off World War II. Now, in the Age of Aquarius, the
Green Wave was back in the bowling business.
 Tulane Coach Jim Pittman said piquedly, "We've been playing big boys all
season." He was referring to the fact that the 6-4 Colorado team, an
impressive team which outweighed Tulane 20 pounds to the man, was a 7
1/2-point favorite and was getting all of the pre-game attention. But,
Pittman was right. Despite Colorado's offensive averages of 423 yards a
game, 300 yards rushing and 30 points a game, if ever there was a wrong
favorite in a football game, this was it.
The scoring opened in the first quarter when linebacker Rick Kingrea
picked off one of Arendt's passes and returned it 44 yards to the
Colorado 6, where eventually Lee Gibson kicked a field goal to give
Tulane a 3-0 lead. Dave Haney pulled Colorado even with a 32-yard second
quarter field goal.
The only real Colorado threat came when safety Pat Murphy intercepted
Wave quarterback Mike Walker on the last play of the half. Murphy made
the play at the Colorado 10, and it seemed for an instant as if he might
return it 90 yards. He fell, however, at the Colorado 38 as he tried to
cut. "I saw daylight when I intercepted," he said, "and I just wanted to
keep on that sideline until I had Tulane pulled way over and then I was
going to cut to the middle. When I made my cut I had nothing but
Colorado players and a couple of our cheerleaders ahead of me, but I
slipped."
Dave Abercrombie had a sensational return of the second half kickoff,
taking the ball at the 4, finding a wall of blockers along the sideline
and loping all the way to the Buffaloes' 30 before being tackled. The
66-yard return set Tulane up and Abercrombie fittingly scored from the 2
a few plays later, putting Tulane up 10-3 and slowing closing the vise
on the bigger, and slower, Buffaloes. The 8,000 Tulane fans who made the
trip went wild. "If there was a turning point," Pittman said later, "you
had it in the first moments of the third quarter."
In the fourth quarter, after a time-consuming drive, Abercrombie scored
again from the 4 to essentially seal a game Tulane had long before taken
for its own. Abercrombie, with 128 rushing yards, had almost
single-handedly equaled the output of Colorado's seven backs (155
yards).
And the unit termed "the swarming defense of Tulane" by ABC-TV
sportscaster Chris Schenkel limited - and "limited" is the most apt word
- the Buffalo offense to a grand total of 48 yards in the second half-28
on the ground, 20 through the air - and 30 of those yards came on
Colorado's last possession. "They came from everywhere," Buffalo
quarterback Paul Arendt said of the Green Wave defense afterward in a
bit of a daze.
Kingrea, the defensive player of the game, was awarded the game ball.
Kingrea, as gracious off the field as he could be hard-nosed on the
field, said no one man was responsible for the victory. "I can't keep
this," Kingrea said. "... This ball I present to Tulane University."
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Attendance- 44,640
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
TU- FG Gibson 19
Second Quarter
CU- FG Haney 33
Third Quarter
TU- Ambercrombie 2 run (Gibson kick)
Fourth Quarter
TU- Abercrombie 4 run (Gibson kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing
CU- Arendt 29-65, Tarver 11-54, Walsh 8-26, Keyworth 6-16, Branch 1-4
TU- Abercrombie 25-128,
Marshall 13-87, Lachaussee 2-3
Passing
Colorado- Arendt 3-7-20
Tulane- Walker 3-8-28
Receiving
CU- Portos 2-17, Masten 1-3
TU- Barrios 2-31,
Abercrombie 1-(-3)
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