The 1979 Garden State Bowl, played on December 15, 1979, was the second edition of the

Garden State Bowl The Garden State Bowl was an annual post-season college football bowl game played at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, from 1978 until 1981.Foldesy, Jody. "Bowls burgeon as big business", ''The Washington Times''. December 21, 1997. ...

. The game featured the California Golden Bears, who played in their first bowl since the

1959 Rose Bowl The 1959 Rose Bowl was the 45th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Thursday, January 1. The heavily-favored and second-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten Conference defeated the #16 Cal ...

, and the

Temple Owls The Temple Owls are the athletic teams that represent Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current athletic director is Arthur Johnson. The owl has been the symbol and mascot for Temple University since its founding in the 1 ...

, who made their first bowl appearance since the 1935 Sugar Bowl. 55,493 tickets were sold but only 40,207 fans showed on a cold 29°-day in the Meadowlands to see the Owls beat the Golden Bears, 28–17. The game was nationally televised on the

Mizlou Television Network Mizlou Television Network, Inc. or Mizlou Communications, Inc., is a former sports broadcast television network. It was active from 1962 to 1991, and in 1992 it was re-established as Mizlou Television Network, Inc., which is now based in Tampa, ...

Game summary

The Owls scored on their first three possessions and jumped ahead to a 21–0 lead in the first quarter on drives of 67 and 50 yards with scoring runs of 8 and 4 yards by running back Kevin Duckett and a seven-yard touchdown pass from quarterback

Brian Broomell Brian Broomell (born June 26, 1958) is a former American football quarterback who played one season with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Temple University and attended Sterling High Scho ...

to receiver Wiley Pitts. The Golden Bears trimmed the lead to 21–14 at the half, after touchdown passes from Cal quarterback Rich Campbell to Matt Bouza and Joe Rose. After a Cal field goal by

Mick Luckhurst Michael Christopher Luckhurst (born March 31, 1958) is an English retired American football placekicker. One of the earliest British-born players in NFL history, he played his entire professional career with the Atlanta Falcons. Early life L ...

early in the fourth quarter, the Bears closed to within four points, only to have Temple seal the game with a 78-yard drive ending with a five-yard touchdown pass from Broomell to Gerald (Sweet Feet) Lucear. The Owls rushed for 300 of their 381 yards total offense. Mark Bright, Temple's fullback, was named Most Valuable Player for gaining 112 yards on 19 carries. Campbell was the leading passer in the game with 241 yards, but Cal had just 23 yards rushing. The Temple defense was led by sophomore tackle Guy Peters, who recorded three sacks and recovered a fumble. The Bowl win was Temple's 10th win of the year, a team record, and earned

Wayne Hardin Irving Wayne Hardin (March 23, 1926 – April 12, 2017) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the United States Naval Academy from 1959 to 1964 and at Temple University from 1970 to 1982, compiling a c ...

's team a spot in the AP and UPI Top 20. Temple was ranked 17th in both polls, the first time the Temple football team was nationally ranked in the final wire service polls. Cal wound up 6–6 and took its worst setback after suffering its five regular season defeats by a total of 24 points.

References

Garden State Bowl California Golden Bears football bowl games Temple Owls football bowl games

December 1979 sports events in the United States {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub