1982 Fiesta Bowl

The 1982 Fiesta Bowl was the first Fiesta Bowl played in January, in light of the bowl game's newgained popularity due to the sunny climate with had games with a team ranked in the top 10 appearing in the 8 of the previous 10 bowls. This one was no different, matching the Penn State Nittany Lions and the USC Trojans to end the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season for both teams.

Background

The Nittany Lions had spent a week ranked #1 before a loss to Miami knocked them to #6 and a loss to Alabama ultimately dropped them out of championship contention though they finished the season on a two game winning streak and ranked in the top 10 for the second straight year. USC finished third in the Pacific-10 Conference after losses to Arizona (which knocked them out of being ranked #1) and Washington (which not only knocked them out of being ranked #3 but also cost them the Pac-10 title) relegated them to this game. One notable highlight was Marcus Allen, who after winning the Heisman Trophy with the first 2,000 yard season, was playing his final collegiate game. This was Penn State's second straight Fiesta Bowl and USC's first.

Game summary

USC had more turnovers and punts than Penn State while being outrushed and outyarded by Penn State in a wet soggy game that was at one point 24-7. Curt Warner scored on a touchdown run early in the first quarter on his first carry of the game. But USC would respond when Chip Banks returned an interception return 20 yards for a touchdown. Gregg Garrity caught a long touchdown pass from Todd Blackledge 52 yards away to give Penn State the lead they would never again relinquish. Franco would add a field goal before the half ended to give Penn State a 17-7 halftime lead. Warner would add in his second touchdown of the day to make it 24-7 as USC could only respond with a field goal by Jordan. But when USC had to punt later in the quarter, Dave Paffenroth's punt was blocked as it landed out of the end zone for a safety, which was ultimately the final score as the two teams settled down to make for a scoreless fourth quarter as Penn State won their second straight Fiesta Bowl.^[1]

Aftermath

This remains USC's only Fiesta Bowl appearance. Penn State would go to one more Fiesta Bowl before the decade ended.

Statistics

Statistics	Penn State	USC
First Downs	20	19
Yards Rushing	218	60
Yards Passing	175	202
Return Yards	78	38
Total Yards	471	300
Punts-Average	4-50.8	5-40.2
Fumbles-Lost	3-2	3-2
Interceptions	2	3
Penalties-Yards	7-70	7-49

References

↑ https://www.fiestabowl.org/fiesta-bowl/fiesta-bowl-game-history/game-results-recaps/1982-fiesta-bowl.php

1981–82 NCAA football bowl game season

Independence (Dec. 12) Garden State (Dec. 13) Holiday (Dec. 18) Tangerine (Dec. 19) California (Dec. 19) Sun (Dec. 26) Gator (Dec. 28) Liberty (Dec. 30) Peach (Dec. 31) Hall of Fame Classic (Dec. 31) Astro-Bluebonnet (Dec. 31) Orange (Jan. 1) Fiesta (Jan. 1) Sugar (Jan. 1) Cotton (Jan. 1) Rose (Jan. 1)

Fiesta Bowl Game

History & conference tie-ins	History Sun Devil Stadium University of Phoenix Stadium College Football Playoff Broadcasters College Football Playoff At-Large Group of Five Bid

Games	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2014 2016 2016

Notes	The game was also the national title game for either the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, or Bowl Championship Series in 1996, 1999, and 2003. There was a Fiesta Bowl in January and December in 1997, 2014, and 2016. The game will be a College Football Playoff semifinal in its December 2016 edition.

Penn State Nittany Lions bowl games

USC Trojans bowl games

Pound sign (#) denotes national championship game.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.