1968 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl
| 1968 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 31, 1968 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1968 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Astrodome | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Houston, Texas | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 53,543 | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1968 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl was the first Bluebonnet Bowl that had "Astro" in the title, which would stay that way until 1984. It had what was at the time the largest crowd to see a game indoors, played by the SMU Mustangs of the Southwest Conference and the Oklahoma Sooners of the Big Eight Conference. The game was a low-scoring affair until the fourth quarter, which had 35 combined points and most notably ended on a missed conversion.
The only three losses SMU had were against ranked opponents (losing to #11 Ohio State, #11 Texas, and #10 Arkansas), though they did beat #19 Texas Tech while finishing 3rd in the SWC. This was SMU's third bowl game in five years. Oklahoma had started ranked #5 before a loss to #3 Notre Dame. A 2-3 start was followed by five straight victories, including victories over #3 Kansas and #6 Missouri. The Sooners finished tied for the Big 8 title with Kansas. This was Oklahoma's fourth bowl game of the decade.
Oklahoma struck first with Bob Warmack's eight yard touchdown run. The game stood like that until the third quarter, when Mike Richardson scored on a one-yard run for SMU, but the extra point missed, trailing 7–6. An ineffective Berry was replaced by Mickey Ripley, though Steve Owens threw a touchdown pass to Johnny Barr making the lead 14–6 for Oklahoma going into the fourth.
Chuck Hixson gave SMU life as he threw a touchdown pass to Jerry LeVias. Hixson then threw a successful conversion pass to Clements to tie the game. Later in the quarter, Richardson scored his second touchdown, giving SMU a 21–14 lead, with 7:35 to go in the game. Oklahoma tied the game with a Ripley touchdown pass to Bo Denton. But later in the quarter while trying to take the lead back, Ripley's pass was interecepted by SMU linebacker Bruce Portillo, putting SMU in scoring position. Hixson threw another touchdown, this time to Ken Fleming to make it 28–21 with three minutes to go. With 1:16 left, Barr scored on a touchdown throw by Ripley, making it 28–27. But when Ripley tried to give the Sooners the win, he was stopped short, clinching the game for SMU.
This was SMU's last bowl appearance for 12 years. In contrast, Oklahoma reached seven bowl games in the following decade.
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