The 1984 Cherry Bowl was a post-season American

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 ...

at the

Silverdome The Pontiac Silverdome (also known simply as the Silverdome) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, ...

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Founde ...

between the Army Cadets and the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the school colors are green and wh ...

on December 22, 1984. The game was the final contest of the

1984 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1984 NCAA Division I-A football season was topsy-turvy from start to finish. It ended with the BYU Cougars being bestowed their first and only national championship by beating Michigan in the Holiday Bowl. While the Cougars finished with a pe ...

for both teams, and ended in a 10–6 victory for Army.

Background

This was the first

Cherry Bowl The Cherry Bowl was an annual post-season college football bowl game played in the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1984 and 1985.Foldesy, Jody. "Bowls burgeon as big business", ''The Washington Times''. December 21, 1997. Page A1. Th ...

and first bowl game played in Michigan. This was Army's first ever bowl game and Michigan State's first bowl game since

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

Scoring summary

Ralf Mojsiejenko’s 52-yard field-goal attempt went wide left, costing Michigan State three points early. Another chance at the Army 5 for a touchdown led to an interception. A Spartan fumble led to an Army score. Clarence Jones scored the first Army points in a bowl game with a 4-yard touchdown run with 6:31 left in the first half to culminate an 8 play, 46 yard drive. This proved to be the halftime lead for the Cadets. In the fourth quarter, another Spartan fumble led to a score as Craig Stopa increased the lead to 10 with his 38-yard field goal with 8:40 left in the game. Bob Wasczenski caught a 36-yard touchdown pass to narrow the lead with 4:19 remaining. On their conversion attempt, the pass failed, leaving it at 10-6. From that point, Army and Michigan State played stalemate as Army won their first ever bowl game. The Cadets controlled the clock for 34:05. Nathan Sassaman rushed for 136 yards on 28 carries. Yarema was sacked three times and intercepted three times en route to an 11-of-25 155-yard performance.

Statistics

References

Army Black Knights football bowl games Michigan State Spartans football bowl games 1984 in sports in Michigan {{Michigan-sport-stub