Mirage Bowl (college football)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the optical illusion, see Parabolic reflector.

The Mirage Bowl was an annual college football game hosted in Tokyo, Japan from 1977 through 1993. For the 1986 season, it was renamed the Coca Cola Classic. It kept this name until it was discontinued after the 1993 season. Unlike most college football bowl games, the Mirage Bowl was the site of a regular season matchup, usually between two teams from the same conference.

The first Mirage Bowl was played in Korakuen Stadium on December 11th, 1977 between Grambling and Temple. Grambling won 35-32. Grambling quarterback Doug Williams was named MVP.

[edit] Trivia

• Nebraska and Wisconsin won their respective conference titles (Big Eight) and Big Ten) at the last two Mirage Bowls. Wisconsin advanced to its first Rose Bowl Game since 1963.

Date Played	Winning Team		Losing Team
December 11, 1977	Grambling	35	Temple	32
December 10, 1978	Boston College	28	Temple	24
November 24, 1979	Notre Dame	40	Miami	15
November 30, 1980	UCLA	34	Oregon State	3
November 28, 1981	Air Force	21	San Diego State	16
November 27, 1982	Clemson	21	Wake Forest	17
November 26, 1983	SMU	34	Houston	12
November 17, 1984	Army	45	Montana	31
November 30, 1985	USC	20	Oregon	6

[edit] Coca Cola Classic

Date Played	Winning Team		Losing Team
November 30, 1986	Stanford	29	Arizona	24
November 28, 1987	California	17	Washington State	17 (tie)
December 3, 1988	Oklahoma State	45	Texas Tech	42
December 4, 1989	Syracuse	24	Louisville	13
December 2, 1990	Houston	62	Arizona State	45
November 30, 1991	Clemson	33	Duke	21
December 6, 1992	Nebraska	38	Kansas State	24
December 6, 1993	Wisconsin	41	Michigan State	20