1963 Liberty Bowl
| 1963 Liberty Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 21, 1963 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1963 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Philadelphia Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1963 Liberty Bowl was a college football bowl game played at Philadelphia Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania between the Mississippi State Bulldogs and the North Carolina State Wolfpack before a crowd of 8,309 fans in brutally cold weather. Coach Paul E. Davis led Mississippi State to victory, but the significant dropoff in attendance from prior games led organizers to relocate the next year's game, the 1964 Liberty Bowl, as the first college bowl game ever played indoors, at the Atlantic City Convention Hall (now known as Boardwalk Hall) in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The two teams from the South played in bitter cold weather, with a temperature of 22 °F (−6 °C) at the kickoff, dropping to 15 °F (−9 °C) by the end of the game. There was also a very strong wind which amplified the effect of the low temperatures, making it nearly unbearable. 8,309 fans were in attendance, 8,000 fewer than the lowest previous attendance at a Liberty Bowl and a marked drop off from the 100,000 who attended the Army–Navy Game two weeks earlier in the 102,000-capacity stadium.
The game was played at 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time and was broadcast by NBC. Led by head coach Paul E. Davis, Mississippi State came into the game with a 6-2-2 record, losing to both Memphis State University and the University of Alabama, but defeating bowl-bound teams from Auburn University and Louisiana State University and tying Ole Miss, earning the Bulldogs a pick as the favorite to win the game by the Associated Press. The NC State Wolfpack entered the game with a record of 8-2, under head coach Earle Edwards.
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