Fiesta Bowl Totally Explained

Everything about Tostitos Fiesta Bowl totally explained

The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Tostitos tortilla chips, is a United States college football bowl game played annually since 1971. Originally, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil Stadium where it remained until 2006. University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona is the current venue. Previous bowl game sponsors included Sunkist and IBM.
In 1998 the Fiesta Bowl became part of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS), and prior to 2007 every four years (most recently in 2003) was the designee for the national championship game.

History

Origins

The Fiesta Bowl was born from the Western Athletic Conference's frustrated attempts to obtain bowl invitations for its champions. In 1968 and 1969 respectively, champions Wyoming and Arizona State failed to secure any bowl selection. The next year, undefeated Arizona State was bypassed by the major bowls and had to settle for an appearance in the less prestigious Peach Bowl. The Fiesta Bowl therefore initially provided an automatic bowl tie-in for the Western Athletic Conference champion.

1970s

The 1971 inaugural game featured another top-ten Arizona State squad against top-twenty opponent Florida State. By 1975, the game was able to attract Big Eight co-champion Nebraska to play undefeated Arizona State in a matchup of top-five teams. In 1977, the game was again able to attract a top-five opponent in Penn State.
In 1978, Arizona and Arizona State both joined the Pac-10 Conference and the Fiesta Bowl's tie-in with the Western Athletic Conference ended.

1980s

The game continued to attract high quality matchups, so beginning with the 1981 game the Fiesta Bowl shifted to New Year's Day with the other major bowl games.
A major breakthrough occurred in 1986 when the top two teams in the country, Miami and Penn State, agreed to play for the de facto national championship in the Fiesta Bowl. At the time, the "big four" bowl games, the Cotton, Orange, Sugar, and Rose, had contracts with the major conferences whose champions were guaranteed selection. Both Miami and Penn State were independents at that time, and were thus free to choose a bowl. As such, the Fiesta Bowl and the Florida Citrus Bowl, each free from the obligation of conference tie-ins, vied to host the Miami-Penn State matchup. The Fiesta Bowl won the bidding and the game was set to be played on January 2, a day after the "big four" bowls. The 1987 Fiesta Bowl was won by Penn State 14-10 over Miami, and drew the largest television audience of any game in the history of college football. Two years later, #1 Notre Dame played undefeated #3 West Virginia for the national championship at the Fiesta Bowl.
By this time, the Fiesta Bowl's ability to stage games with national championship implications propelled it to major-bowl status in the minds of college football fans. In the minds of some fans, the Fiesta replaced the Cotton on the list of major bowls.

1990s

Before the 1991 game, several major universities declined invitations due to the State of Arizona's decision at that time not to adopt the Martin Luther King Holiday. However, in 1992, the Fiesta Bowl was invited to participate in the Bowl Coalition, a predecessor to the Bowl Championship Series. This assured the game would feature major conference champions or prestigious runners-up and cemented its status as a major bowl. When the Bowl Coalition was reconfigured as the Bowl Alliance, the Fiesta was included as one of the three top games. By this time, the Fiesta had clearly replaced the Cotton as a major bowl. In 1996, it included a title game with a preset rotating site. The Fiesta Bowl hosted the 1996 game, featuring undefeated #1 Nebraska playing undefeated #2 Florida for the National Championship. Finally, with the addition of the Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences to the rechristened Bowl Championship Series, the Fiesta Bowl became a permanent fixture in the four year BCS National Championship Game rotation. In 1998, the Fiesta Bowl featured the first BCS National Championship Game, which Tennessee won over Florida State, 23 to 16.

2000s

The BCS National Championship game returned to the Fiesta Bowl 2003 with the Ohio State Buckeyes beating the Miami Hurricanes in the first overtime national championship game. The game went into double overtime with the Buckeyes coming out on top 31-24 to claim the 2002 National Championship, the first (and to date, only) BCS Championship won by a team north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Since that game, the Buckeyes returned to the Fiesta Bowl in 2004 beating Kansas State. and in 2006 beating Notre Dame.
   The Fiesta Bowl was the first BCS bowl to have had an entry from outside the BCS conferences (independent Notre Dame is also a full BCS member). The 2005 game saw undefeated Utah become the first non-BCS school ever to play in a BCS game, easily defeating Big East champion Pittsburgh 35-7.
   On January 1, 2007, the undefeated Boise State Broncos won by defeating the Oklahoma Sooners 43-42 in overtime. It has been called one of the greatest college football games ever played, due to the combination of an underdog team, trick plays, comebacks by each team and a thrilling overtime finish.
   In 2007, the Fiesta Bowl game was played for the first time at the new University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, across the Valley of the Sun from Sun Devil Stadium Tempe. The BCS agreement now stipulated that the Fiesta Bowl hosts the Big 12 Conference champions unless they're involved in the national championship BCS game.
   On January 2, 2008, the Fiesta Bowl game was played for the second year at the new University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. The game again pitted Big-12 champion #3 Oklahoma against an underdog. In this case, it was the Big East Champion #9 West Virginia Mountaineers. And in another stunning Fiesta Bowl upset, West Virginia beat Oklahoma, 48-28.

Controversy

In 1996, a group of students from Brigham Young University, led by BYU professor Dennis Martin, burned bags of Tostitos tortilla chips in a bonfire and called for a boycott of all Tostitos products. This came after #5 ranked BYU wasn't invited to play in the 1996-1997 Fiesta Bowl in favor of #7 ranked Penn State. This event is one of those referred to by proponents of college football implementing a playoff series rather than the controversial Bowl Championship Series (BCS), so the teams with smaller fan bases can be treated the same as the larger schools. Penn State went on to win the game over the Texas Longhorns 38-15, while BYU defeated Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl 19-15.

Television and radio

The Fiesta Bowl, along with two other BCS bowl games, the Orange and Sugar Bowls, currently airs on FOX and has since the 2007 game. From 1999-2006, the game aired on ABC as part of its BCS package, and from 1996-1998 the game aired on CBS as part of its bowl coverage. Prior to that, NBC aired the game for several years.
ESPN Radio is the current radio home for the Fiesta Bowl.

Game results

Italics denote a tie game.
* - Denotes BCS National Championship Game

Date played	Winning team		Losing team		notes
December 27, 1971	Arizona State	45	Florida State	38
December 23, 1972	Arizona State	49	Missouri	35
December 21, 1973	Arizona State	28	Pittsburgh	7
December 28, 1974	Oklahoma State	16	BYU	6
December 26, 1975	Arizona State	17	Nebraska	14
December 25, 1976	Oklahoma	41	Wyoming	7
December 25, 1977	Penn State	42	Arizona State	30
December 25, 1978	*Arkansas*	10	UCLA	10
December 25, 1979	Pittsburgh	16	Arizona	10
December 26, 1980	Penn State	31	Ohio State	19
January 1, 1982	Penn State	26	Southern California	10
January 1, 1983	Arizona State	32	Oklahoma	21
January 2, 1984	Ohio State	28	Pittsburgh	23
January 1, 1985	UCLA	39	Miami	37
January 1, 1986	Michigan	27	Nebraska	23
January 2, 1987	Penn State	14	Miami	10	notes
January 1, 1988	Florida State	31	Nebraska	28
January 2, 1989	Notre Dame	34	West Virginia	21	notes
January 1, 1990	Florida State	41	Nebraska	17
January 1, 1991	Louisville	34	Alabama	7	notes
January 1, 1992	Penn State	42	Tennessee	17
January 1, 1993	Syracuse	26	Colorado	22
January 1, 1994	Arizona	29	Miami	0	notes
January 2, 1995	Colorado	41	Notre Dame	24	notes
January 2, 1996	Nebraska	62	Florida	24
January 1, 1997	Penn State	38	Texas	15
December 31, 1997	Kansas State	35	Syracuse	18
January 4, 1999*	Tennessee	23	Florida State	16	notes
January 2, 2000	Nebraska	31	Tennessee	21	notes
January 1, 2001	Oregon State	41	Notre Dame	9	notes
January 1, 2002	Oregon	38	Colorado	16	notes
January 3, 2003*	Ohio State	31	Miami	24 (2 OT)	notes
January 2, 2004	Ohio State	35	Kansas State	28	notes
January 1, 2005	Utah	35	Pittsburgh	7	notes
January 2, 2006	Ohio State	34	Notre Dame	20	notes
January 1, 2007	Boise State	43	Oklahoma	42 (OT)	notes
January 2, 2008	West Virginia	48	Oklahoma	28	notes

Game MVPs

Date played	MVPs	Team	Position
December 27, 1971	Gary Huff	Florida State	QB
December 27, 1971	Junior Ah You	Arizona State	DE
December 23, 1972	Woody Green	Arizona State	HB
December 23, 1972	Mike Fink	Missouri	DB
December 21, 1973	Greg Hudson	Arizona State	SE
December 21, 1973	Mike Haynes	Arizona State	CB
December 28, 1974	Kenny Walker	Oklahoma State	RB
December 28, 1974	Phil Dokes	Oklahoma State	DT
December 26, 1975	John Jefferson	Arizona State	WR
December 26, 1975	Larry Gordon	Arizona State	LB
December 25, 1976	Thomas Lott	Oklahoma	QB
December 25, 1976	Terry Peters	Oklahoma	CB
December 25, 1977	Matt Millen	Penn State	LB
December 25, 1977	Dennis Sproul	Arizona State	QB
December 25, 1978	James Owens	UCLA	RB
December 25, 1978	Jimmy Walker	Arkansas	DT
December 25, 1979	Mark Schubert	Pittsburgh	K
December 25, 1979	Dave Liggins	Arizona	S
December 26, 1980	Curt Warner	Penn State	RB
December 26, 1980	Frank Case	Penn State	DE
January 1, 1982	Curt Warner	Penn State	RB
January 1, 1982	Leo Wisniewski	Penn State	NT
January 1, 1983	Marcus Dupree	Oklahoma	RB
January 1, 1983	Jim Jeffcoat	Arizona State	DL
January 2, 1984	John Congemi	Pittsburgh	QB
January 2, 1984	Rowland Tatum	Ohio State	LB
January 1, 1985	Gaston Green	UCLA	TB
January 1, 1985	James Washington	UCLA	DB
January 1, 1986	Jamie Morris	Michigan	RB
January 1, 1986	Mark Messner	Michigan	DT
January 2, 1987	D.J. Dozier	Penn State	RB
January 2, 1987	Shane Conlan	Penn State	LB
January 1, 1988	Danny McManus	Florida State	QB
January 1, 1988	Neil Smith	Nebraska	DL
January 2, 1989	Tony Rice	Notre Dame	QB
January 2, 1989	Frank Stams	Notre Dame	DE
January 1, 1990	Peter Tom Willis	Florida State	QB
January 1, 1990	Odell Haggins	Florida State	NG
January 1, 1991	Browning Nagle	Louisville	QB
January 1, 1991	Ray Buchanan	Louisville	FS
January 1, 1992	O.J. McDuffie	Penn State	WR
January 1, 1992	Reggie Givens	Penn State	OLB
January 1, 1993	Marvin Graves	Syracuse	QB
January 1, 1993	Kevin Mitchell	Syracuse	NG
January 1, 1994	Chuck Levy	Arizona	RB
January 1, 1994	Tedy Bruschi	Arizona	DE
January 2, 1995	Kordell Stewart	Colorado	QB
January 2, 1995	Shannon Clavelle	Colorado	DT
January 2, 1996	Tommie Frazier	Nebraska	QB
January 2, 1996	Michael Booker	Nebraska	CB
January 1, 1997	Curtis Enis	Penn State	TB
January 1, 1997	Brandon Noble	Penn State	DT
December 31, 1997	Michael Bishop	Kansas State	QB
December 31, 1997	Travis Ochs	Kansas State	LB
January 4, 1999	Peerless Price	Tennessee	WR
January 4, 1999	Dwayne Goodrich	Tennessee	CB
January 2, 2000	Eric Crouch	Nebraska	QB
January 2, 2000	Mike Brown	Nebraska	DB
January 1, 2001	Jonathan Smith	Oregon State	QB
January 1, 2001	Darnell Robinson	Oregon State	LB
January 1, 2002	Joey Harrington	Oregon	QB
January 1, 2002	Steve Smith	Oregon	DB
January 3, 2003	Craig Krenzel	Ohio State	QB
January 3, 2003	Mike Doss	Ohio State	SS
January 2, 2004	Craig Krenzel	Ohio State	QB
January 2, 2004	A.J. Hawk	Ohio State	OLB
January 1, 2005	Alex Smith	Utah	QB
	Paris Warren	Utah	WR
	Steve Fifita	Utah	NG
January 2, 2006	Troy Smith	Ohio State	QB
January 2, 2006	A.J. Hawk	Ohio State	OLB
January 1, 2007	Jared Zabransky	Boise State	QB
January 1, 2007	Marty Tadman	Boise State	S
January 2, 2008	Pat White	West Virginia	QB
January 2, 2008	Reed Williams	West Virginia	OLB

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