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The 1974 Orange Bowl featured the Penn State Nittany Lions and the LSU Tigers.
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Background
The Tigers won their first nine games of the season and seemed to be heading to a SEC title when they lost to Alabama, 21–7, at home. A loss to Tulane the following week, the first victory for the Green Wave over the Tigers since 1948 (LSU was 22–0–2 vs. its in-state rival in between), only added to the frustration in Baton Rouge.
Penn State, which completed its third perfect regular season since 1968, had their first Heisman Trophy winner with running back John Cappelletti. The Nittany Lions were aiming to end 1973 the same way they did 1968 and 1969, by winning in Miami. The Lions nipped Kansas 15–14 in the 1969 Orange Bowl and stymied Missouri 10–3 the next year.
Game summary
Steve Rogers gave LSU an early lead on his touchdown run, but Penn State responded with a field goal by Chris Bahr by the end of the first quarter to make it 7–3. Early in the second quarter, Chuck Herd caught a 72 yard pass from Tom Shuman for a touchdown to give the Nittany Lions a lead they did not relinquish as Penn State added on with a Cappelletti run to have a 16–7 halftime lead. The only scoring in the second half came on a safety as the Tigers could not muster up points despite out-gaining the Nittany Lions by over 90 yards.
Aftermath
The Tigers would not finish higher than 3rd in the Southeastern Conference until 1982, which resulted in them gaining smaller bowl invites during that time. LSU stumbled to 5–5–1 in 1974 and 4–7 in 1975, its only non-winning seasons during Charles McClendon's 18-year tenure in Baton Rouge (1962–79).
With the win, the Nittany Lions had their third undefeated season in six years.