1962 Tangerine Bowl
The 1962 Tangerine Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 22, 1962, at the Tangerine Bowl stadium in Orlando, Florida. The Miami Redskins (based in Oxford, Ohio and now the Miami RedHawks) with a record of 8–1–1 played the Houston Cougars with a record of 6–4. Houston won the game, by a score of 49–21.
| 1962 Tangerine Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | December 22, 1962 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1962 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Tangerine Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Orlando, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Billy Roland, Houston | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 7500 | ||||||||||||||||||
Remarkably, despite Lopasky's outstanding performance, the title of Tangerine Bowl MVP was awarded to UH quarterback Billy Roland. Miami entered the game with an impressive 8-1-1 record, making the Cougars' resounding victory all the more astonishing.
When questioned about the magnitude of the upset, Bill Yeoman emphatically declared, "Absolutely! We were well aware that Miami was a superior team."
This game holds a unique historical significance as it marked the inaugural televised appearance for the University of Houston. It was broadcast to regional audiences in the Southwest and Midwest, setting the stage for the Cougars' first national broadcast in 1965, which took place in the iconic Astrodome.