1983 Aloha Bowl
| 1983 Aloha Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bowl Game | |||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| Date | December 25, 1983 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1983 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Aloha Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Honolulu, Hawaii | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 37,212 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | Metrosports | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers |
Ray Scott (play-by-play) Joe Butitta (color commentator) |
||||||||||||||||||
The 1983 Aloha Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 25, 1983 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The game pitted the Washington Huskies and the Penn State Nittany Lions.
The defending champion Nittany Lions began the season ranked #4 in the nation. However, Penn State suffered through three straight losses, with two of them being to ranked opponents (#1 Nebraska and #13 Iowa), which dropped them out of the polls. Penn State rebounded with five straight victories, beating #3 Alabama and #4 West Virginia before a match-up with #19 Boston College. The 27-17 loss to the Eagles was their last of the season, as they beat Brown and Notre Dame (while tying Pittsburgh) to finish with a 7-4-1 record. This was their 13th straight appearance in a bowl game. Washington began the season ranked #19 in the polls. They responded with victories over Northwestern and #8 Michigan to rise to #9. A loss to LSU dropped them to #18, but the Huskies responded with four straight wins to get back to #11. A loss to UCLA hurt their chances at a Pac-10 title, though they won their next two games to get back to #15 and in the hunt for a shared title before a matchup with Washington State in the Apple Cup. Once again, the Cougars beat Washington to ruin their chance at a Pacific-10 Conference title, as the Huskies finished 2nd. This was their fifth straight bowl game and sixth in seven seasons.
Nick Gancitano kicked a 23 yard field goal to make it 3-0 Penn State to culminate their first possession. Later in the second quarter, Danny Greene returned a punt 57 yards for a touchdown to make it 7-3 Huskies with 8:51 to go in the half. With 36 seconds to go in the quarter, Jeff Jaeger culminated a 65 yard drive with his 39 yard field goal to make it 10-3 Washington. With 12:21 to go in the game, Cancitano make it 10-6 on his 49 yard field goal, his longest of his career. Washington simply could not advance the ball the rest of the way, which gave Penn State the opportunity to try and win the game. They started their drive on the 49 with 6:54 to go. On nine plays, Penn State drove down the field for the score, with D. J. Dozier scoring the winning touchdown from 2 yards out to give the Nittany Lions the winning points. Washington had 18 first downs, 126 rushing yards on 33 carries and 153 passing yards (with 19-of-40 passing). Penn State had 15 first downs, 95 rushing yards on 40 carries, and 118 passing yards (with 14-of-34 passing and one interception).
...
Wikipedia