Fiesta Bowl

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.

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 traditional four "major" 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.

2006 Fiesta Bowl, the last Fiesta Bowl game in Sun Devil Stadium

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.

2007 Fiesta Bowl, Boise State vs. Oklahoma; January 1, 2007, the first Fiesta Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium

2000s

In 2002, the Fiesta Bowl had the right to take Pac-10 Conference Champion, should that team not reach the Rose Bowl, which served as the National Championship game that season. Oregon failed to qualify for the championship game, and thus played Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl. A similar arrangement was made for the 2006 Fiesta Bowl. However, instead of gaining the Pac-10 Conference champion in addition to their usual tie-in with the Big 12 Conference, the Fiesta Bowl would have had a choice of the two teams. This turned out to be a moot point as both the Big 12 champion and Pac-10 champion (Texas and Southern California, respectivly) qualified for the National Championship Game.^[2]

The BCS National Championship game returned to the Fiesta Bowl in 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. 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 parameters of the BCS (the Big XII, Big Ten, Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Southeastern Conference (SEC), Pac-10, Big East, and Notre Dame have tie-ins, while all of the other conferences do not). 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. ^[3]

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 are 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.^[4] This came after #5 ranked BYU was not 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.^[5]

Television and radio

As of the 2006–07 season, the BCS will air primarily on FOX while only the Rose Bowl will continue to be shown on ABC. FOX will continue to air 4 BCS Bowl Games (Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Sugar Bowl and the BCS National Championship Game) through the 2009-2010 season. Starting with the 2010-2011 season, ESPN will start airing the games, out bidding FOX for the rights to the games.^[6]

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.

Previous results

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

Game MVPs

References

See also

• List of college bowl games
• 1987 Fiesta Bowl
• 2007 Fiesta Bowl

External links

• Fiesta Bowl