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1964 Sugar Bowl

American college football game

Field	Value
year_game_played	1964
image	File:TulaneStadiumFront1.jpg
caption	Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, hosted the Sugar Bowl.
game_name	Sugar Bowl
subheader	30th Sugar Bowl
football_season	1963
visitor_name_short	Alabama
visitor_nickname	Crimson Tide
visitor_school	University of Alabama
visitor_record	8–2
visitor_conference	SEC
visitor_coach	Bear Bryant
visitor_rank_AP	8
visitor_rank_coaches	9
visitor_1q	3
visitor_2q	6
visitor_3q	3
visitor_4q	0
home_name_short	Ole Miss
home_nickname	Rebels
home_school	University of Mississippi
home_record	7–0–2
home_conference	SEC
home_coach	Johnny Vaught
home_rank_AP	7
home_rank_coaches	7
home_1q	0
home_2q	0
home_3q	0
home_4q	7
date_game_played	January 1
stadium	Tulane Stadium
city	New Orleans, Louisiana
MVP	Tim Davis (Alabama PK)
odds	Ole Miss by 7½ points
referee	E.D. Cavette (SEC)
attendance	80,785
us_network	NBC
us_announcers_link	List of announcers of major college bowl games
us_announcers	Ray Scott, Frankie Albert

The 1964 Sugar Bowl was the thirtieth edition of the college football bowl game, played at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday, January 1. Part of the 1963–64 bowl game season, it matched the seventh-ranked Ole Miss Rebels and the #8 Alabama Crimson Tide, both of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), although the two teams had not met in years. This would mark the last Sugar Bowl with two SEC teams until 2026.

The matchup was the first between the flagship universities of these neighboring states in almost two decades (1944), and only the second in over thirty years. In a defensive struggle, Alabama upset the Rebels 12–7 without scoring a touchdown.

New Orleans received a rare substantial snowfall of 3.6 in the previous day, and cleared snow lay in large banks around the edges of the field.

Teams

Main article: 1963 NCAA University Division football season

Alabama

Main article: 1963 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

This was Bear Bryant's sixth season as head coach at Alabama. The Crimson Tide lost to Florida and long-time rival Auburn en route to an 8–2 regular season. Originally wanting to pit Navy against Ole Miss, the Sugar Bowl extended the invitation to Alabama with two weeks remaining in the regular season. This was their seventeenth bowl appearance and the fourth in the Sugar Bowl.

On December 9, several days prior to the regular season finale against Miami, junior quarterback Joe Namath was suspended for the remainder of the season by Bryant. Sophomore Steve Sloan started at quarterback for the Crimson Tide in the final two games.

Mississippi

Main article: 1963 Ole Miss Rebels football team

The 1963 squad was Johnny Vaught's seventeenth as head coach at Ole Miss. The Rebels did not lose a regular season game, but tied Memphis State and long-time rival Mississippi State en route to a 7–0–2 record. This was their twelfth bowl appearance and the seventh in the Sugar Bowl.

Game summary

The Sugar Bowl kicked off at 1 pm CST, as did the Cotton and Orange Bowls. The temperature was 40 F.

The game was a defensive slugfest. The teams combined for 17 fumbles, 11 by the Rebels, both all-time bowl game records. There was also a total of thirteen combined turnovers and nine punts. Alabama scored its first points on a 31-yard field goal by Tim Davis. In the second quarter, Davis kicked field goals of 46 and 22-yards to give Alabama a 9–0 lead at halftime.

In the third quarter, Davis had a 48-yard field goal to extend the Alabama lead to 12–0. Early in the fourth quarter, Ole Miss scored the only touchdown of the game when Perry Lee Dunn threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Larry Smith. Alabama then held their lead and won the game 12–7.

Scoring

Statistics

:{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" ! Statistics !! Alabama !! Ole Miss |- |First downs||14||9 |- |Rushing||58–165||27–77 |- |Passing||3–11–1||11–21–3 |- |Passing yards||29||171 |- |Total offense||69–194||48–248 |- |Punts–avg.||5–36.8||4–44.0 |- |Fumbles–lost||6–3||11–6 |- |Turnovers||4||9 |- |Penalties–yards||3–15||5–45 |} :Source:

References

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). "Bowl/All-Star Game Records". NCAA.org.
(December 20, 2025). "The 2026 Sugar Bowl matchup is set, and it’s a rarity in the game’s 92-year history".
(January 2, 1964). "Four field goals boost Bama past Rebels, 12-7". Victoria Advocate.
Land, Charles. (January 2, 1964). "Crimson Tide, Davis surprise Rebels 12–7". Tuscaloosa News.
University of Alabama Athletics Media Relations Office. (October 1, 2011). "1963 Schedule & Results". RollTide.com.
(October 1, 2011). "How Alabama and Ole Miss met in the 1964 Sugar Bowl". Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Land, Charles. (December 10, 1963). "Namath suspended, to miss Miami and bowl". The Tuscaloosa News.
(December 10, 1963). "'Bama drops QB Joe Namath". Pittsburgh Press.
(December 10, 1963). "Bear boots quarterback". Victoria Advocate.
(January 1, 1964). "Nation's top teams face each other in bowl tilts". Victoria Advocate.
(September 30, 2021). "Throwback Thursday: 1964 Sugar Bowl, Alabama vs. Ole Miss".
(October 1, 2011). "30th Annual Sugar Bowl Classic ~ January 1, 1964". Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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