The 1982 Hall of Fame Classic, part of the 1982–83 bowl game season, was the sixth annual contest and took place on December 31 at

Legion Field Legion Field is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States in Birmingham, Alabama, primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but occasionally used for other large outdoor events. Opened in 1927, it is named in ho ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. The competing teams were the

Vanderbilt Commodores The Vanderbilt Commodores are the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Vanderbilt University, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt fields 16 varsity teams (6 men's teams and 10 women's team ...

, representing the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC), and the

Air Force Falcons The Air Force Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the United States Air Force Academy, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The athletics department has 17 men's and 10 women's NCAA-sanctioned teams. The current athl ...

, representing 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). Down 28–17 entering the fourth quarter, 19 unanswered points gave Air Force the 36–28 come-from-behind victory.

Background

Air Force finished the regular season at 7–5, with losses to

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

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: ...

, and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. They accepted an invitation to play in the Hall of Fame Classic against Vanderbilt following their upset of Notre Dame on November 20, then lost at Hawaii the following week. It was the fourth bowl appearance for Air Force, the first in twelve years, and their first in the Hall of Fame Classic.

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

was the original selection, but became ineligible for bowl participation following their last-play loss to

rival A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

Cal Cal or CAL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Cal'' (novel), a 1983 novel by Bernard MacLaverty * "Cal" (short story), a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov * ''Cal'' (1984 film), an Irish drama starring John Lynch and Helen Mir ...

, which dropped their record to 5–6. The 1982 Vanderbilt squad finished the regular season 8–3. The Commodores lost to

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. They accepted an invitation to play in the Hall of Fame Classic following their 27–16 victory over on November 20. It was the third bowl appearance for Vanderbilt, the first in eight years, and their first in the Hall of Fame Classic.

Game summary

Vanderbilt got on the scoreboard first after Whit Taylor threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Norman Jordan to give the Commodores a 7–0 lead. Air Force responded with a one-yard Marty Louthan touchdown later in the first and then on a 19-yard Mike Brown run early in the second to take a 14–7 lead. The Commodores then scored a pair of second-quarter touchdown passes by Taylor to take a 21–14 halftime lead. In the third, the Falcons scored on a 21-yard Sean Pavlich

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

and the Commodores on Jordan's third touchdown reception of the evening to give Vanderbilt a 28–17 lead entering the fourth quarter. In the fourth, Air Force scored 19 unanswered points on a trio of touchdown runs to secure the 36–28 victory. For their performances, Vanderbilt quarterback Whit Taylor and Air Force defensive end Carl Dieudonne were named co-MVPs of the game. :

References

{{Vanderbilt Commodores bowl game navbox Hall of Fame Classic Bowl All-American Bowl Air Force Falcons football bowl games Vanderbilt Commodores football bowl games 1982 in sports in Alabama December 1982 sports events in the United States