The 1979 Liberty Bowl

Liberty Bowl

The Liberty Bowl is an annual U.S. American college football bowl game played in December of each year from 1959 to 2007 and in January in 2009 and 2010. The Liberty Bowl was sponsored by AXA Financial and was known as the AXA Liberty Bowl from 1997 to 2003...

, part of the 1979

1979 NCAA Division I-A football season

The 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season saw the Alabama Crimson Tide bring home a national title with a perfect 12-0 season. The title was Alabama's 11th claimed, though the number is disputed. It was their 6th Associated Press awarded title....

 bowl game

Bowl game

In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...

 season, took place on December 22, 1979, at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium

Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium

Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium is a football stadium, located at the Mid-South Fairgrounds, in Midtown Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The stadium is the site of the annual AutoZone Liberty Bowl, and is the home field of the University of Memphis Tigers football team...

 in Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

, Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

. The competing teams were the Tulane Green Wave

1979 Tulane Green Wave football team

The 1979 Tulane Green Wave football team represented Tulane University in the 1979 college football season. The Green Wave competed in the Liberty Bowl but lost. The offense scored 318 points while the defense allowed 179 points...

 and the Penn State Nittany Lions, each competing as a football independent. Penn State was victorious by a final score of 9–6.

Penn State

The 1979 Penn State squad finished the regular season with a record of 7–4 and losses against , Nebraska

1979 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team

The 1979 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team represented the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team was coached by Tom Osborne and played their home games in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Nebraska.-Schedule:...

, Miami

1979 Miami Hurricanes football team

The 1979 Miami Hurricanes football team represented the University of Miami for the 1979 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team became known as the "Jet Lag Kids", playing seven times away from home and traveling over 28,000 miles, an NCAA record...

 and Pittsburgh

1979 Pittsburgh Panthers football team

The 1979 Pittsburgh Panthers football team represented the University of Pittsburgh in the 1979 college football season. The Panthers competed in the 1980 Fiesta Bowl. Pitt was awarded the Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy as the champion of the East.- Schedule :...

. The appearance marked the third for Penn State in the Liberty Bowl, and the school's 18th overall bowl game.

Tulane

The 1979 Tulane squad finished the regular season with a record of 9–2 and losses against and . The appearance marked the second for Tulane in the Liberty Bowl, and the school's sixth overall bowl game.

Game summary