| 1978 Orange Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| 44th Orange Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 2, 1978 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1977 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Orange Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Miami, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Roland Sales (Arkansas RB) Reggie Freeman (Ark. NG) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Oklahoma by 18 points [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | R. Pete Williams (SEC) (split crew: SEC and Big Ten) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | Main Street Electrical Parade | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 60,987 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Jim Simpson, Merlin Olsen | ||||||||||||||||||||
The 1978 Orange Bowl was the 44th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, on Monday, January 2. Part of the 1977–78 bowl game season, it matched the sixth-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks of the Southwest Conference (SWC) against the heavily-favored #2 Oklahoma Sooners of the Big Eight Conference.[1][2][3][4]
The Razorbacks were 10–1, but were heavy underdogs. Earlier in the day, top-ranked Texas and their Heisman Trophy-winning running back Earl Campbell had lost the Cotton Bowl 38–10 to #5 Notre Dame (led by quarterback Joe Montana). Oklahoma now had the inside track to the national championship, if they beat Arkansas. In the regular season, Texas defeated Oklahoma and Arkansas on consecutive weekends en route to its 11–0 record.
New Year's Day was on Sunday in 1978, and the major college bowl games were played the following day.