1979 Independence Bowl

March 2026 December 2024 February 2020 Independence Bowl December 15 1979 1979 McNeese State Cowboys 11–0 Southland Conference Ernie Duplechin 0 0 7 0 RB Joe Morris, SyracuseDT Clay Carroll, McNeese State Syracuse Orangemen 6–5 Independent Frank Maloney 0 3 7 21 Channel 17 (Atlanta)Rudy Martzke 'Big' Syracuse slight choice over 'little' McNeese St. https://www.newspapers.com/image/137063963 14 September 2017 Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York) 15 December 1979 1D Shreveport, Louisiana Pete Van Wieren & Billy Kilmer bg State Fair Stadium 27,234 The 1979 Independence Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the McNeese State Cowboys and the Syracuse Orangemen. Background This was McNeese State's 2nd Southland Conference title in three years. This was Syracuse's first bowl game since 1966. Game summary Gary Anderson gave the Orangemen a 3–0 lead on his 40-yard kick in the second quarter that proved to be the halftime lead. Ken Mandeville made it 10–0 on his 1-yard run. McNeese State retaliated with a Chad Millet touchdown run to make it 10–7 going into the fourth quarter. A 15 play, 73-yard drive culminated with an Art Monk touchdown catch from Bill Hurley. Hurley added in a touchdown run to make it 24–7. Tom Matichak made it 31–7 on a touchdown run of his own to seal off the scoring and give the Orangement the win. Joe Morris ran for 155 yards on 33 carries for Syracuse in their first bowl win since 1961.http://cuse.com/sports/2006/1/31/independencebowl1979.aspx 1979 Independence Bowlhttp://independencebowl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2014-IBowl-Media-Guide.pdf Archived copy 2015-08-11 https://web.archive.org/web/20150719000404/http://independencebowl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2014-IBowl-Media-Guide.pdf 2015-07-19 dead Aftermath McNeese made one more bowl appearance in 1980, in the Independence Bowl. Syracuse made four more bowl appearances in the decade. They have not returned to the Independence Bowl since this game. Statistics Statistics Syracuse McNeese StateFirst downs 23 13Rushing yards 276 127Passing yards 51 102Interceptions 0 3Total yards 327 229Fumbles–lost 1–0 5–1Penalties–yards 2–10 1–3Punts–average 4–36.0 3–43.7 References Independence Bowl Category:Independence Bowl Category:McNeese Cowboys football bowl games Category:Syracuse Orange football bowl games Independence Bowl Independence Bowl