The 1977 Independence Bowl featured the Louisville Cardinals and the Southland Conference champion Louisiana Tech Bulldogs. Louisville struck first on a 60-yard punt return for a touchdown by Kevin Miller in the first quarter. Louisiana Tech answered with a 1-yard touchdown run by Lewis to tie the game.Louisville Football The Bulldogs scored another touchdown on a 41-yard Keith Thibodeaux pass to Pree. Still in the first quarter, Thibodeaux threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to McCartney to increase Louisiana Tech's lead to 21–7. In the second quarter, Swiley connected on a 21-yard field goal to give the Dawgs a 24–7 halftime lead. In the third quarter, Kevin Miller scored his second touchdown of the game on a 13-yard run to close the gap to 24–14, which would end up being the final score. There were a combined 13 fumbles throughout the game.
Game summary Scoring summary
Statistics
Statistics UL La. Tech First downs 11 25 Total offense, yards 161 335Rushes-yards (net) 44–100 44–48 Passing yards (net) 61 287Passes, Comp-Att-Int 9–23–1 19–39–2 Time of Possession
Team Category Player Statistics UL Passing Stu Stram 7/18, 61 yds, 1 INT Rushing Nathan Poole 17 car, 50 yds Receiving Mark Besanceney 2 rec, 25 yds La. Tech Passing Keith Thibodeaux 19/39, 287 yds, 2 TD, 2 INT Rushing Charlie Lewis 17 car, 39 yds, 1 TD Receiving Rod Foppe 4 rec, 78 yds
References