The 1987 Liberty Bowl was a

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 ...

postseason

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 on December 29, 1987, in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. The 29th edition of the

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic City ...

, the game featured the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

and the

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

Background

This was the third meeting between Arkansas and Georgia (the first two being in the

1969 Sugar Bowl The 1969 Sugar Bowl was the 35th edition of the college football bowl game, played at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday, January 1. It featured the fourth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), ...

and the

1976 Cotton Bowl Classic The 1976 Cotton Bowl Classic was a post-season college football bowl game between the co-Southwest Conference champion Arkansas Razorbacks"Major Conference Champions.1975 SWC Champions.Infoplease.com. Retrieved on April 11, 2010. and the Georgia B ...

). The Razorbacks finished second in the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...

(SWC) for the third straight year. The Bulldogs finished fourth in 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). This was Georgia's first Liberty Bowl since 1967, and Arkansas' first since 1984.

Game summary

A field goal by Arkansas' Trainor gave them a 3–0 lead. Lars Tate gave the Bulldogs the lead on his one-yard touchdown run to make it 7–3 36 seconds into the second quarter, but the Razorbacks responded with a Greg Thomas touchdown run with 31 seconds remaining in the half to make it 10–7. Another Thomas touchdown run made it 17–7 in the third quarter.

John Kasay John David Kasay (born October 27, 1969) is a former American football kicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 21 seasons, primarily with the Carolina Panthers. He played college football at Georgia and was selected by the Se ...

narrowed the lead to 17–10 three seconds into the fourth quarter on his 24-yard field goal. James Jackson scored on a five-yard touchdown run to tie it with 10:23 in the game. With 1:42 left, Arkansas tried to gain the victory with a 35-yard field goal, but the kick missed. Georgia could not do anything with their possession, giving the ball back to the Hogs. But with 46 seconds to go, Carver Russaw intercepted a Thomas pass, returning it to the Georgia 43. Three plays later (culminated by James Jackson’s 16-yard pass to Troy Sadowski), the Bulldogs were in field goal position to win. Kasay's kick from 39 yards out split through the uprights with no time remaining, giving the Bulldogs their first bowl victory since 1984. Greg Thomas went 7-of-17 for 86 yards with 79 yards rushing on 13 carries for Arkansas. James Jackson went 15-of-25 for 148 yards with 72 rushing yards on 10 carries for Georgia.

Aftermath

The two teams met once more, in the 1991 Independence Bowl, before the Razorbacks joined the SEC in 1992.

Statistics

References

{{Georgia Bulldogs bowl game navbox

Liberty Bowl Arkansas Razorbacks football bowl games Georgia Bulldogs football bowl games