The 1990 California Bowl was an 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 ...

played on December 8, 1990 at

Bulldog Stadium Valley Children's Stadium, also known as Jim Sweeney Field at Bulldog Stadium, is an outdoor college football stadium in the western United States, located on the campus of California State University, Fresno in Fresno, California. It is the home ...

Fresno, California Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, makin ...

. The game pitted the

San Jose State Spartans The San Jose State Spartans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San José State University. SJSU sports teams compete in the Mountain West Conference (MW) at the NCAA Division I level, with football competing in the Football B ...

and the

Central Michigan Chippewas The Central Michigan Chippewas are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Central Michigan University (CMU), located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The school fields sixteen men's and women's intercollegiate teams that compete at the N ...

Background

The Spartans went a perfect 7–0 in conference play, with a tie to Louisville in their opener and losses to #20 Washington and California. It was their first

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

championship since 1987, along with their fourth in nine years. The Chippewas were co-champions of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

(with Toledo, who they had beaten, 13–12). They had only two losses (to Kentucky and Ball State) and one tie (to independent Akron) in their first conference title since

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

. This was their first ever bowl game appearance.

Game summary

*San Jose State - Canley 5-yard run (Bowen PAT) *San Jose State - Bowen 37-yard field goal *Central Michigan - Ealy 55-yard pass from Bender (Nicholl PAT) *San Jose State - Canley 22-yard run *San Jose State - Blackmon 25-yard pass from Martini (run failed) *San Jose State - Bowen 25-yard field goal *Central Michigan - Nicholl 27-yard field goal *San Jose State - Canley 59-yard run (Martini pass to Blackmon) *San Jose State - Canley 5-yard run (Bowen PAT) *San Jose State - Canley 5-yard pass from Martini (Bowen PAT) *Central Michigan - Ealy 48-yard pass from Bender (Nicholl PAT) *Central Michigan - Ealy 17-yard pass from Bender (Nicholl PAT) San Jose State had 28 first downs to Central Michigan's 13, 200 rushing yards to their 63 and 442 passing yards to the Chippewas' 220. Both teams turned it over twice. San Jose State, despite having 12 penalties for 118 yards, had the ball for 37:11. Sheldon Canley rushed for 164 yards on 23 carries and five touchdowns.

Aftermath

The Chippewas did not win the MAC title again until

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, where they advanced to the successor to the California Bowl, the

Las Vegas Bowl The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada before moving to the ...

against UNLV. They did not win a bowl game until

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

. San Jose State were co-champions of the Big West with Fresno State, but the Bulldogs were invited to play. They did not return to a bowl game again until

. They did not win a conference championship again until 2020.

References

{{San Jose State Spartans bowl game navbox

California Bowl The California Bowl (later the California Raisin Bowl) was a post-season college football bowl game played annually at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California, from 1981 to 1991. The game featured the champions of the Big West Conference (known p ...

California Bowl Central Michigan Chippewas football bowl games San Jose State Spartans football bowl games