1955
January 1, 1955 – Orange Bowl Stadium
Duke Turns Nebraska Blue
Duke won the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1954 and Oklahoma won the Big Seven, but the Sooners stayed home because of a conference rule that prohibited consecutive Orange Bowl appearances.
This allowed runner-up Nebraska to enter the game, which it lost to the Blue Devils 34-7.
The Blue Devils controlled the ball throughout the game. They dominated every statistical category, including plays (76-to-54), first downs (23-to-6) and yards (361-to-105).
Duke scored first on Bob Pascal’s seven-yard run in the second quarter and Jerry Barger threw five yards to Jerry Kocourek for a 14-0 halftime lead.
Nebraska got on the board with Don Comstock’s three-yard run over the left tackle in the third quarter, but Barger’s second touchdown pass to Sonny Sorrell for five yards made it 20-6. Duke’s final touchdowns were on a one-yard run by Nick McKeithan and a three-yarder by Sam Eberdt.
|
|
DUKE |
NEB |
|
First Downs |
23 |
6 |
|
Rushing Attempts |
64 |
34 |
|
Rushing Yards |
288 |
84 |
|
Passes Attempted |
13 |
9 |
|
Passes Completed |
7 |
1 |
|
Had Intercepted |
0 |
2 |
|
Passing Yards |
82 |
26 |
|
Total Offense |
370 |
110 |
|
Punts/Avg. |
5/26.6 |
7/28.9 |
|
Fumbles/Lost |
2/1 |
0/0 |
|
Penalties/Yards |
2/30 |
2/20 |
|
SCORE BY QUARTERS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Duke |
0 |
14 |
6 |
14 |
- |
34 |
|
Nebraska |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
- |
7 |
SCORING SUMMARY
DUKE: Pascal 7-yard run (Nelson kick); DUKE: Kocourek 5-yard pass from Barger (Nelson kick); DUKE: Sorrell 5-yard pass from Barger (kick failed); NEB: Comstock 3-yard run (B. Smith kick); DUKE: McKeithan 1-yard run (Nelson kick); DUKE: Eberdt 3-yard run (Nelson kick)
Duke Head Coach: Bill Murray
Nebraska Head Coach: Bill Glassford