The 1977 Fiesta Bowl was the seventh

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of the

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, played at

Sun Devil Stadium Sun Devil Stadium is an outdoor college football stadium in the southwestern United States, on the campus of Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Arizona. It is home to the ASU Sun Devils football team of the Pac-12 Conference. The s ...

Tempe, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...

on Sunday, December 25. Part of the 1977–78 bowl game season, it matched the eighth-ranked

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interco ...

and the #15

Arizona State Sun Devils The Arizona State Sun Devils are the athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member o ...

of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

(WAC). Favored Penn State took an early lead and won 42–30 on the Sun Devils' home field.

Teams

Penn State

Penn State was ranked as high as fourth until a home loss to #16

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

in early October, but then won seven straight. It was their first Fiesta Bowl

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Arizona State

In the Sun Devils' final year in the WAC, they were co-champion for the seventh and last time, and appeared in their fifth Fiesta Bowl. They were invited after co-champion

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

backed out due to the bowl being slated to play on a Sunday. ASU's sole loss in the WAC was at

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

in a snowstorm.

Game summary

The game kicked off on

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Day (Sunday) shortly after 1 p.m.

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, televised by

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. There were no other bowl games on this day, and the

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were on a day either side of it; the AFC on Saturday, and the NFC on Monday. Joe Lally blocked a punt and returned it 21 yards to give Penn State the lead early in the first quarter. Bob Torrey caught a touchdown pass from

Chuck Fusina Charles Anthony Fusina (born May 31, 1957) is a former American college and professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and United States Football League (USFL) for seven seasons during the 1970s and ...

to make it 14–0. Arthur Lane caught a touchdown pass from

Dennis Sproul Dennis Sproul is a former quarterback in the National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (A ...

to narrow it to 14–7. Bahr made it 17–7 with a field goal. Ron Washington caught a touchdown pass from Sproul to narrow it to 17–14 at halftime. An 18-yard touchdown run by halfback Steve Geise made it 24–14 at the end of the third, and a three-yard run by fullback

Matt Suhey Matthew Jerome Suhey (born July 7, 1958) is an American former professional football player who was a fullback for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Bears. He won a Super Bowl as a member of the 1985 Bears while ...

increased the lead to seventeen points early in the fourth. Washington caught another touchdown pass from Sproul to narrow it to 31–21, but Bahr kicked another field goal to make it 34–21. Arizona State's George Perry ran in from a yard out to close the gap to 34–28, but Suhey's second touchdown run and a deliberate safety late in the game sealed the game for Penn State, who won their first-ever Fiesta Bowl.

Scoring

First quarter * Penn State – Joe Lally 21-yard blocked punt return (

Matt Bahr Matthew David Bahr (born July 6, 1956) is a former professional American football placekicker in the National Football League, and professional soccer player in the North American Soccer League. He attended Neshaminy High School in Langhorne, Pe ...

kick) * Penn State – Bob Torrey 3-yard pass from

(Bahr kick) Second quarter * Arizona State – Arthur Lane 11-yard pass from

(Steve Hicks kick) * Penn State – Bahr 22-yard field goal * Arizona State – Ron Washington 13-yard pass from Sproul (Hicks kick) Third quarter * Penn State – Steve Geise 18-yard run (Bahr kick) Fourth quarter * Penn State –

3-yard run (Bahr kick) * Arizona State – Washington 30-yard pass from Sproul (Hicks kick) * Penn State – Bahr 32-yard field goal * Arizona State – George Perry 1-yard run (Hicks kick) * Penn State – Suhey 3-yard run (Geise run) * Arizona State – Safety, punter

Scott Fitzkee Scott Austin Fitzkee (born April 8, 1957) is a former professional American football wide receiver. He played in both the National Football League (NFL) and United States Football League (USFL) and starred at Penn State University in 1978. In t ...

ran out of end zone

Statistics

: :

Aftermath

Penn State's next Fiesta Bowl was three years later; Arizona State returned in January

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

as a member of the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...

References

External links

Fiesta Bowl
– December 25, 1977 {{Penn State Nittany Lions bowl game navbox

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been playe ...

Fiesta Bowl Arizona State Sun Devils football bowl games Penn State Nittany Lions football bowl games December 1977 sports events in the United States