The 1971 Liberty Bowl was a post-season college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 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...

 between the Arkansas Razorbacks and the Tennessee Volunteers

Tennessee Volunteers football

The Tennessee Volunteers football team are an American college football team at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville . The NCAA Division I team is also a member of the Southeastern Conference ....

. In the thirteenth 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...

, #9 Tennessee defeated #18 Arkansas 14-13 in front of 45,410 patrons.

#18 Arkansas

Arkansas defeated #7 Cal in War Memorial Stadium

War Memorial Stadium (Arkansas)

War Memorial Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas. The stadium is primarily used for American football and is the home stadium for the Arkansas Baptist Buffaloes, Catholic High School Rockets, and the secondary home stadium for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks...

 to open the season, but suffered a one point defeat to an unranked Tulsa team two weeks later. The Hogs would upset #10 Texas in Little Rock also, but lost to Texas A&M and tied Rice, costing the Hogs the Southwest Conference.

Game summary

The Volunteers took the lead first, with a two yard run by Bill Rudder. The Hogs responded with a 36-yard TD strike from Joe Ferguson to Jim Hodge. Scoring wouldn't resume until the fourth quarter, when Razorback Bill McClard kicked 19- and 30-yard field goals. A third McClard kick was good, set up by Louis Campbell's third interception, but a penalty kept the Hogs off the board a fourth time. Arkansas fumbled at their own 36 yard line, and Tennessee's Curt Watson scored three plays later.
Arkansas set a Liberty Bowl record with 104 interception return yards in the contest. This record still stands today. Louis Campbell of Arkansas had three interceptions, also a Liberty Bowl Record.