Posted by Sun Devil Pat on July 08, 07 at 19:12:00:
Sun Devil fans,
Once again, I'm bored with the dog days of summer and I'm looking to create some conversation on the message board. I decided to list my all time ASU bowl victories from my best at number 1, and my least at number 12. Here's Sun Devil Pat's list of ASU bowl victories:
#1) 1987 Rose Bowl win over Michigan 22-15. This one is a no brainer in my opinion! It was awesome to be there, especially in the 4th quarter!
#2) 1975 Fiesta Bowl win over Nebraska 17-14. It capped an undefeated season for ASU and made the country realize that ASU could play with (and beat) the "big boys" of college football.
#3) 1983 Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma 32-21. I must admit that I had a hard time deciding between this win and the 1970 Peach Bowl win. I went with the 1983 Fiesta Bowl win because it was on New Year's Day and because it was over a storied football program (Oklahoma).
#4) 1970 Peach Bowl win over North Carolina 48-26. After many year's of trying to get ASU noticed as a football power playing in the WAC Conference, ASU finally gets a bowl bid and back's it up with a huge second half in the snow of Atlanta. This was a big win for ASU on a national stage!
#5) 1971 Fiesta Bowl win over Florida State 45-38. The first Fiesta Bowl game may have been the most exciting Fiesta Bowl until another upstart program from the WAC Conference out played/tricked Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl game.
#6) 2004 Sun Bowl win over Purdue 27-23. This game is high on my list because it looked like ASU had lost the game when they had a punt blocked in the last minute and half of the game. That lead to a Purdue touchdown. ASU drove 80 yards in 4 plays and almost scored too soon on a swing pass from Sam Keller to Rudy Burgess. Thrilling come from behind win for the underdog Sun Devils in El Paso!
#7) 1972 Fiesta Bowl win over Missouri 49-35. ASU wins in a shoot out in Fiesta Bowl 2. ASU totals more than 700 yards of offense, most of it by Woody Green and Benny Malone on the ground.
#8) 1997 Sun Bowl win over Iowa 17-7. ASU dominates on both lines of scrimmage as the Sun Devils smack Iowa 17-7. Iowa scored a touchdown in the last minute of the game when an ASU defender missed a tackle at the 20 yard line. Otherwise, ASU might have shut out the high scoring Hawkeyes. This was also Pat Tillman's last game as a Sun Devil football player, I was proud to be there to see it!
#9) 2005 Insight Bowl win over Rutgers 45-40. ASU plays a great second half to come from behind to beat a Rutgers program on the rise. The Sun Devils got down by 14 points early in this game but Rudy Carpenter and the Sun Devils prove to be too explosive for the Scarlet Knight defense. Exciting win for the Sun Devils at Chase Field (it will always be Bank One Ballpark to me).
#10) 1973 Fiesta Bowl win over Pittsburgh 28-7. I know a lot of Sun Devil fans will have this game higher on their list. I ranked this one so low because it was a very sloppy game. There were 12 turnovers in the game and three missed extra points. ASU turned it over 4 times, Pittsburgh turned it over 8 times, Danny Kush missed three extra points. It was like the 1983 Chicago White Sox (ASU won ugly that night). ASU's defense did dominate in this game as they held a young Tony Dorsett to 100 yards on 30 carries. This was also Danny White's final game as a Sun Devil football player, and I was proud to be there to see it!
#11) 1978 Garden State Bowl win over Rutgers 34-18. ASU plays a great second half and beats the Scarlet Knights at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. The Garden State Bowl only lasts two years, this was the first game played there.
#12) 1987 Freedom Bowl win over Air Force 33-28. ASU dominated this game until they gave up two late 4th quarter touchdowns to a back up quarterback. It turned a 33-14 rout into a nervous 33-28 Sun Devil victory. Of course, the team probably mailed in the last half of the 4th quarter because they pretty much knew their head coach (John Cooper) was just playing out the game before he took off to Ohio State, to become the Buckeyes next coach. This bowl game was a serious let down after winning the Rose Bowl the year before in Pasadena.
There you have my ranking of ASU's all time bowl victories. I want to know if some Sun Devil fans think that some of my games are out of place or not. Did I put too much stock into one game over another in your opinion? Let me know if you disagree with the order of my games or not. Go Sun Devils!
SD Pat