“En Memento, Elvis” Cards for the 1977-78 Liberty Bowl, Nebraska and North Carolina for SOM College Football

Elvis Presley Died August 16, 1977 in Memphis

Dropbox link for cards for 1977-Nebraska-Final-SOM-Cards.zip

Dropbox link to cards for 1977-NORTH-CAROLINA-FINAL-SOM-Cards.zip

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“En Memento, Elvis”  Cards for the 1977-78 Liberty Bowl, Nebraska and North Carolina for SOM College Football

The 1977 Liberty Bowl was significant for Elvis Presley because he was awarded the Liberty Bowl's highest honor, which his father, Vernon Presley, accepted on his behalf, and the halftime show featured a tribute to him with Roy Orbison and Margarette Piazza performing songs. The program for the Nebraska vs. North Carolina game also featured Elvis on the cover.  Elvis, as it happens, was a huge football fan and even attended games at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, in his hometown of Memphis. 

The game was also Nebraska backup QB Randy Garcia’s Road to Redemption, on a night when Tom Osborne delivered perhaps his most emotional halftime speech ever to spur 8-3 and 12 ranked Nebraska to a 21-17 win.  The win came at the expense of 8-2-1 and 14th ranked North Carolina, which came into the Liberty Bowl as the 1977 ACC champions with freshman Lawrence Taylor and the nation’s leading defense against scoring.

LT was only a freshman but had impact on the Tar Heel Defense 

North Carolina took a 17-7 lead in the third quarter on a 47-yard field goal by Tom Biddle. On the Tar Heels’ first possession of the second half, Kupec took his team from its 12 to the Nebraska 30, and Biddle booted the 47‐yarder, the longest field goal of his career. On the kick, aided by a wind of 15 to 20 miles an hour, the ball struck the crossbar and bounced over, breaking the Liberty Bowl record of 46 yards, set by Mississippi's Van Brown in 1968.

Nebraska's comeback began in the fourth quarter when backup quarterback Randy Garcia entered the game. Garcia, a senior who during the regular season shared the quarterbacking duties with Tom Sorley, the Nebraska starter, went to work, entering the game on Nebraska's first possession of the final period. He completed a 13‐yard pass to Ken Spaeth and used the running of I.M. Hipp and Monte Anthony to move the ball to the Carolina 10.  Garcia then faked inside, fooling the Carolina defense, and tossed to Curtis Craig, who made a diving catch in the end zone with 10:51 remaining to cut the deficit to 17-14. 

After a Nebraska fumble recovery, Garcia connected with Tim Smith for the game-winning 34-yard touchdown pass with 3:16 remaining.  Nebraska's defensive player of the game, George Andrews, also contributed with a sack of North Carolina Kupec.  

It was the eighth bowl victory in nine seasons for Nebraska; they remained at twelfth in the final AP poll, and North Carolina slipped to seventeenth.

The jubilant Huskers after the game. 

Initial Date of Publication: 7-16-2025

Reprinted with Permission, Chris Stewart

“Pitt’s Redemption” Cards for the 1977-78 Gator Bowl for SOM College Football

 

“Pitt’s Redemption” Cards for the 1977 Gator Bowl for SOM College Football

Dropbox link to cards for 1977-CLEMSON FINAL SOM-Cards.zip

Dropbox link to cards for 1977 Pittsburgh SOM Final Cards.zip

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The 1977 Gator Bowl was a college football game played on December 30, 1977, in Jacksonville, Florida, where the #10 ranked Pittsburgh Panthers defeated the #11 ranked Clemson Tigers 34-3. Pittsburgh quarterback Matt Cavanaugh set a new Gator Bowl record for passing yards with 387 yards in the game.  In one of his more spectacular games, the Youngstown, Ohio, senior passed for four touchdowns and 387 yards before a record crowd of 72,289 and a national television audience. That set a couple of records—most yardage passing in a Gator Bowl game and most yardage passing in a game by a Pitt player, up until that point. 

The #10 ranked Pittsburgh Panthers had high hopes as defending champions, hoping that their sturdy defense and Cavanaugh would carry them to another undefeated season. But he missed three games during the year, plus the last three quarters of the 1977 season opener with a broken arm. Doctors had expected him to be out at least six weeks, but Cavanaugh made it back early.  He was injured during a play in which he threw a touchdown pass to give Pitt a 6‐0 lead over Notre Dame. The Irish came back against a strong Pitt defense and eventually won, 19‐9, and shattered the Panthers’ hope of repeating as national champions. 

Pitt’s Matt Cavanaugh

The other side of the field had good reason to celebrate any postseason play at all.  Just the mere idea of Clemson going to a bowl Game was almost unfathomable to their long-suffering fans in 1977. After an 18 year postseason bowl drought, the Clemson Tigers were finally going bowlin’ thanks to a spectacular finish in the Clemson-South Carolina matchup. Culminating in “The Catch,” a 20 yard last minute grab by Jerry Butler of a Steve Fuller pass for a 31-27 win in Columbia, the No. 11 Tigers accepted a bid to play in the Gator Bowl.

They still talk about “The Catch”

The game was, unfortunately, one sided.  There was a stark difference in the sheer size of the Pitt players versus Clemson’s - comparatively, they were monsters.  Clemson would end up being crushed 34-3. The only offensive output was derived from the leg of place kicker Obed Ariri. 

Clemson QB Steve Fuller

The strong Pitt defense asserted itself, as it stymied Clemson's quarterback, Steve Fuller, with four interceptions, stopped the South Carolina Tigers three times inside the 15‐yard line and held Clemson at the Pitt 1 ½ late in the fourth period after the issue was settled.

Running back Elliott Walker, also playing his last game for Pitt, helped make Cavanaugh s performance impressive as he scored three of the touchdowns on Cavanaugh passes. The first Cavanaugh-to-Walker score was on a 39‐yard touchdown play. The quarterback stood up straight after the snap and flipped the ball over the linebackers to Walker, who beat the Clemson secondary for the 33 yards he had to run.  The second touchdown by this pair was a 10‐yarder on a roll right by Cavanaugh. The last one was on a screen pass of 25 yards, with Walker doing a fine job of open‐field running after catching the ball.

Mark Schubert, a sophomore placekicker, made the other 10 Pitt points with four extra‐point kicks and two field goals of 24 and 21 yards. Clemson's only points came on a 49‐yard field goal by Obed Ariri, a sophomore from Nigeria. That made distance set a Gator Bowl record.

Special Thanks to Chris Stewart, the author. 

Reprinted with permission 9-15-2025

Fred Bobberts