The 1986 Sugar Bowl was the 52nd

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of the

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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 the

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New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, on Wednesday, January 1. Part of the 1985–86 bowl game season, it matched the

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and second-ranked

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and the #8

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity college athletics, intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in NCAA Division I, ...

of 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). Underdog Tennessee trailed early, rallied, and won in a rout, 35–7.

Teams

Miami

The second-ranked Hurricanes were competing for another national championship; they won ten straight after dropping the opener at home to

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. Miami's most notable win was at

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

in October, which was the Sooners' only loss.

Tennessee

The #8 Volunteers had two non-conference ties at home (

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), and a loss at Florida.

Game summary

The game kicked off shortly after 7 p.m. CST, televised by

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, at the same time as the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...

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, with top-ranked

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

and #3

. Miami appeared dominant on its opening drive, capped with an 18-yard touchdown pass from

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, and took the 7–0 lead into the second quarter. As the game wore on, however, Tennessee's defense began to shut down Miami's vaunted passing attack. Volunteers' quarterback Daryl Dickey threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Smith to tie the game at seven. A drive from midfield took Tennessee to the Miami nine, where running back Jeff Powell gained eight yards but fumbled at the one, and All-American wide receiver

Tim McGee Timothy Dwayne Hatchett McGee (born August 7, 1964) is a former professional American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Cincinnati Bengals and the Washington Redskins from 1986 to 1994. Before his N ...

recovered it in the end zone; Tennessee took the lead at 14–7, the score at halftime. In the third quarter, Sam Henderson scored from a yard out and Tennessee led 21–7, then Powell broke for a sixty-yard run to make it 28–7. In the fourth quarter, Charles Wilson scored on a six-yard run as Tennessee won by a 35–7 margin. Tennessee quarterback Dickey, a fifth-year senior back-up, was named the game's most valuable player.

Scoring

;First quarter: *Miami –

18-yard pass from

(Greg Cox kick) ;Second quarter: *Tennessee – Jeff Smith 6-yard pass from Daryl Dickey (Carlos Reveiz kick) *Tennessee –

recovered fumble in end zone (Reveiz kick) ;Third quarter: *Tennessee – Sam Henderson 1-yard run (Reveiz kick) *Tennessee – Jeff Powell 60-yard run (Reveiz kick) ;Fourth quarter: *Tennessee – Charles Wilson 6-yard run (Reveiz kick) :

Statistics

: : The 245 yards of penalties set a new Sugar Bowl record.

Aftermath

Tennessee climbed to fourth in the final AP poll, while Miami fell to ninth.

References

{{Tennessee Volunteers bowl game navbox

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

Sugar Bowl Miami Hurricanes football bowl games Tennessee Volunteers football bowl games