The 1990 SeaWorld Holiday Bowl was a post-season
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 ...
between the
Texas A&M Aggies
Texas A&M Aggies refers to the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname "Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also referred to as "A&M" or "Texas Aggi ...
and
BYU Cougars
The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the West ...
on December 29, 1990, at Jack Murphy Stadium, now known as
Qualcomm Stadium
San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the stadiu ...
, in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
. The game was part of the
1990 NCAA Division I-A football season
The 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a split national championship and the ensuing controversy helped lead to the creation of the Bowl Coalition, a precursor to the Bowl Championship Series. The national title was split between th ...
and was the final game of the season for both teams. Texas A&M defeated BYU 65–14.
The game featured BYU's
Heisman Trophy
The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...
winner
Ty Detmer
Ty Hubert Detmer (born October 30, 1967) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He won the Heisman Trophy in 1990 while playing college football for the BYU Cougars. Detme ...
, and marked the last time for more than 20 years that the season's Heisman winner would appear in a bowl before
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...
. This would not happen again until the
2011 Alamo Bowl
The 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl, the 19th edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on December 29, 2011 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas as part of the 2011–12 NCAA Bowl season.
The game, which was ...
, featuring
Baylor's Robert Griffin III
Robert Lee Griffin III (born February 12, 1990), nicknamed RG3 and RGIII, is an American football quarterback who is a free agent. He played college football at Baylor, where he won the Heisman Trophy as a senior, and was selected second overa ...
.
Game summary
*Texas A&M - R. Wilson 1 yard touchdown yard run (Talbot kick)
*BYU - C. Smith 8 yard touchdown yard pass from Detmer (Kauffman kick)
*Texas A&M - D. Lewis 6 yard touchdown yard run (Talbot kick)
*Texas A&M - Richardson 6 yard touchdown yard run (Talbot kick)
*Texas A&M - Safety
*Texas A&M - Richardson 22 yard touchdown pass from D. Lewis (Talbot kick)
*Texas A&M - Garrett 6 yard touchdown pass from Richardson (Talbot kick)
*BYU - Clark 1 yard touchdown pass from Evans (Kauffman kick)
*Texas A&M - Richardson 27 yard touchdown yard run (Talbot kick)
*Texas A&M - D. Lewis 3 yard touchdown yard run (Talbot kick)
*Texas A&M - Paterson 14 yard touchdown yard pass from Pavlas (Talbot kick)
*Texas A&M - Krahl 9 yard touchdown yard pass from Pavlas (Talbot kick)
Texas A&M dominated the Cougars, rushing for 356 yards (while BYU had -12), passing for 324 (while BYU had 197), and forcing four turnovers (with the Aggies only having one), while only punting once and having the ball 38:28 of the game, with 72 return yards. BYU had 207 return yards (in part due to having 10 kickoffs and one punt to return), but they also had 10 penalties for 204 yards (while A&M had just 3 for 59 yards), with a paltry 21:31 possession time. Ty Detemer went 11-of-23 for 120 yards and one touchdown and interception while being sacked twice. He was later replaced by Joe Evans, who went 4-of-9 for 77 yards with one touchdown, while being sacked thrice.
Bucky Richardson
John "Bucky" Powell Richardson (born February 7, 1969, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana) is a former quarterback for Texas A&M University who went on to play professionally for the NFL's Houston Oilers. He is married to Tracey and has three children nam ...
threw 9-of-11 for 203 yards with one touchdown, while also rushing for 129 yards on 12 carries and 2 touchdowns, along a catch for 22 yards that also was for a touchdown. His four touchdown performance gained him MVP honors.
William Thomas had 6 tackles, 2 of them going for sacks while being named defensive MVP.
References
{{BYU Cougars bowl game navbox
Holiday Bowl
The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has b ...
Holiday Bowl
Texas A&M Aggies football bowl games
BYU Cougars football bowl games
1990 in sports in California