Fiesta Bowl

(official logo)

About Venue: University of Phoenix Stadium Location: Glendale, Ariz. Operated: 1971- Conference Tie-ins: Big 12 Payout: $17,000,000

Former Venues Sun Devil Stadium (1971-2006)

Former Names None

The Fiesta Bowl is a college football game played annually since 1971 in Tempe, Arizona, hosted by Arizona State University's Sun Devil Stadium.

In 1999 the Fiesta Bowl became part of the Bowl Championship Series, and every four years (most recently in 2003) is the designee for the national championship game. In January 2007, the game will be played at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, along with the new stand-alone BCS National Championship Game.

[edit] History

The creation of Fiesta Bowl grew out of the frustration of the Western Athletic Conference in trying to obtain suitable bowl invitiations for its champions. In 1968 and 1969, respectively, champions Wyoming and Arizona State failed to obtain any invitation, while in 1970, undefeated Arizona State was bypassed by the major bowls and had to settle for a less prestigious Peach Bowl appearance. The Fiesta Bowl therefore initially provided an automatic bowl tie-in for the WAC 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 each joined the Pac-10 Conference, and the Fiesta Bowl's tie-in with the WAC ended. The game continued to attract high quality matchups, however, and beginning with the 1981 game shifted to New Year's Day with the other major bowl games.

[edit] National Championship

A major breakthrough occurred in 1987 when the top two teams in the country, Miami (FL) and Penn State, agreed to play for the National Championship in the Fiesta Bowl. Both universities were independents at that time, all of the so-called major bowls had tie-ins with conferences, and of the other bowls only the Fiesta Bowl had the resources to pull off a matchup of this magnitude. The 1987 game, won by Penn State 14-10, was the most watched college football game, in terms of television viewership, until the 2006 Rose Bowl Game.

Two years later, No. 1 Notre Dame played undefeated No. 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, replacing the Cotton Bowl as a member of the postseason's "top four."

For 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.

[edit] Bowl Championship Series

In 1992, the Fiesta Bowl was invited to participate in the Bowl Coalition, a predecessor to the Bowl Championship Series, assuring the game would feature major conference champions or prestigious runners up, and the possibility of hosting future national title games. When this series incorporated a title game with a preset rotating site beginning in 1996, the Fiesta Bowl was the first to host the game, featuring undefeated No. 1 Nebraska playing undefeated No. 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, 23-16.

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 two overtimes with the Buckeyes coming out on top 31-24 to claim the 2002 National Championship.

[edit] 2007 Fiesta Bowl

On January 1, 2007, in arguably one of the greatest games ever played, the Boise State Broncos defeated the Oklahoma Sooners in overtime.

The game itself was monumental due to Boise State's inclusion. The Broncos were undefeated heading into the game, but because of their non-BCS conference status were excluded from the running for the BCS title game.

But the Broncos proved they belonged, though it wasn't easy.

With 1:26 remaining in the game and Boise State leading 28-20, Oklahoma's Paul Thompson connected with Quentin Chaney for a touchdown. Thompson then finds Juaquin Iglesias for the two-point conversion to tie the score.

Only a few plays later, Bronco quarterback Jared Zabransky is intercepted by Marcus Walker, who returns the pick for a touchdown with only 1:07 left on the clock.

On the ensuing drive, Boise State drove to the Oklahoma 42-yard-line, where the drive stalled momentarily after Zabransky was sacked for an eight yard loss on first down. After two incompletions, the Broncos faced a fourth and 18 from midfield with only 18 seconds left.

With Oklahoma playing a prevent defense, the Broncos ran their "Circus" play, a designed hook & lateral. Zabransky fired the ball to Drisan James, who subsequently scooped the ball to an in-stride Jerard Rabb. Rabb then barely beat Oklahoma defenders to the end zone for a touchdown with only seven seconds remaining. The extra point sent the game into overtime.

In overtime, Boise State won the toss and elected to play defense first. On the first play of OT, Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson scored on a 25-yard run that made the score 42-35.

All seemed lost again for Boise State on their drive as they were faced with a fourth and two from the Oklahoma five-yard-line. But they caught the Sooners off guard with another trick play as Zabransky suddenly broke from his shotgun spot in motion to the left. The snap went to backup wide receiver Vinny Perretta, who was lined up as a running back. Perretta rolled to his right and tossed a soft pass to tight end Derek Schouman for a touchdown.

The Broncos weren't done dipping into their bag of tricks though. On the next play, rather than kicking the extra point to tie, the Broncos elected to try for the two-point conversion. Lined up directly behind center, Zabransky took the snap and faked a quick wide receiver screen pass to the right. With the ball in his non-throwing left hand, Zabransky handed it off backhanded to running back Ian Johnson who ran untouched into the end zone for the 43-42 win. (The play can be seen below in the video gallery.)

During his postgame interview, Johnson proposed to his girlfriend, head Bronco cheerleader Chrissy Popadics.

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