Home > On This Day in Sports Odds History

On This Day in Sports Odds History

 <<--  January 1 January 2  January 3 -->>

1978 (College Football): At the Cotton Bowl in Dallas - #5 Notre Dame blows out the lone undefeated team in the country and top-ranked Texas 38-10. The Fighting Irish were a 6½-point underdog as they took advantage of 5 turnovers by the Longhorns. Notre Dame was awarded the #1 ranking in the final polls as they leapt ahead of Alabama, who was #3 headed into the bowl season, despite the Crimson Tide winning the Rose Bowl 35-6 over #9 Ohio State. Notre Dame received 37 first place votes in the final AP poll while Alabama received 19 first place votes.

1984 (College Football): At the Orange Bowl - #5 Miami (FL) gets the equivalent of a home game and defeats #1 Nebraska 31-30. The Hurricanes were an 11-point underdog as the Cornhuskers were riding a 22-game winning streak and had outscored their opponents 584-176 during the regular season. Nebraska rallied from a 31-17 4th quarter deficit and scored with 48 seconds left in the game on a 24-yard touchdown reception by Jeff Smith. Cornhusker coach Tom Osborne elected to go for 2 instead of kicking the extra point to secure a tie but Hurricane defensive back Kenny Calhoun batted away a pass to Smith. The Hurricanes would move to #1 in the final AP and Coaches polls.

1987 (College Football): At the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe - in a battle of undefeated schools, #2 Penn State defeats #1 Miami (FL) 14-10. The Nittany Lions were a 6½-point underdog as they picked off Heisman Trophy Award winner Vinny Testaverde 5 times.

1999 (NFL): The Arizona Cardinals win their first playoff game in the Super Bowl era after defeating the Dallas Cowboys 20-7 in an NFC Wild Card playoff game. The Cardinals were a 7½-point home underdog and the game stayed under the total of 43 points. Quarterback Jake Plummer threw for 213 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Cardinals previous playoff victory came in 1947 when they were the Chicago Cardinals and defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 28-21 in the NFL Championship game.