The 1991 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 14, 1991 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

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

and the

Bowling Green Falcons The Bowling Green Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Bowling Green State University (BGSU), in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The Falcons compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Divi ...

Background

After five seasons that had ranged from mediocre to abysmal, the Falcons replaced Moe Ankney with

Gary Blackney Gary Blackney (born December 12, 1944) is an American retired college football coach. He served as the head football coach at Bowling Green State University from 1991 to 2000. Blackney also worked as an assistant football coach at Ohio State Univ ...

, an assistant coach from Ohio State. He began his tenure with a 17-6 win over Eastern Michigan and a 24-17 loss to West Virginia. After that, the Falcons did not lose another game for the rest of the season, winning all eight of their MAC games to win 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 ...

for the first time since

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. This was their third bowl game in school history, and it was yet another game versus Fresno State, who had beaten them twice in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

and

. The Bulldogs began the season with seven straight victories, rising to #25 in the polls before a 20-19 loss to Utah State. Fresno State finished strong, winning their last three games (over Pacific, Cal State Fullerton, and San Jose State) to clinch a share of the

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 ...

title, with an identical conference record (6-1) to San Jose State, though the Bulldogs would be the one given an invite to the California Bowl for the fifth time (1982, 1985,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, and

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

) in ten years.

Game summary

*Bowling Green - Brett Landman 5 yard touchdown pass from LeRoy Smith (Leaver kick), 9:01, 1st qtr. *Bowling Green - Mark Szlachcic 29 yard touchdown pass from Erik White (Leaver kick), 7:19, 1st qtr. *Fresno State - Mark Barsotti 3 yard touchdown run (Mahoney kick), 2:27, 1st qtr. *Bowling Green - Mark Szlachcic 9 yard touchdown pass from Erik White (Leaver kick), 12:39, 2nd qtr. *Fresno State - Anthony Daigle 57 yard touchdown run (Mahoney kick), 11:17, 2nd qtr. *Bowling Green - LeRoy Smith 1 yard touchdown run (Leaver kick), 13:15, 4th qtr. *Fresno State - Marty Thompson 5 yard touchdown pass from Mark Barsotti (Mahoney kick), 9:11, 4th qtr. The 14 point underdog Falcons were outrushed and outpassed, but the Falcons jumped out to a 14-0 lead after two touchdowns on the first two possessions. The teams traded touchdowns before going into the half, with the Falcons up 21-14. The second half started with defense, with the third quarter having just 65 yards gained on both sides and 0 points. Derek Mahoney attempted a 26-yard field goal in the third quarter, but the kick fell short. The Falcons took advantage of the miss, driving 80 yards while scoring early in the fourth quarter. The Falcons scored what turned out to be the winning points on a Smith touchdown run, though the Bulldogs clawed back on a Barsotti touchdown pass. There were three changes of possession for the rest of the game, with the last proving to be the most crucial. With 2:29 remaining, Fresno State got the ball back on a Tony Brown interception on the Falcon 1-yard line. The Bulldogs managed to drive the ball all the way to the nine yard line of the Bulldogs, who called their last time out with :24 remaining. A running play gained six yards, making it just three more yards for the potential tying touchdown. Two incomplete passes from Barsotti set up a pivotal fourth and goal with three seconds remaining. On the final play, Barsotti's pass fell incomplete to his covered receivers, as the Falcons completed the upset. The Bulldogs had 24 first downs, 198 rushing yards (on 42 carries), 286 passing yards, three turnovers, and had the ball for 29:14. The Falcons had 22 first downs, 115 rushing yards (on 39 carries), 268 passing yards, two turnovers, and had the ball for 30:46. Blackney was the third coach to ever win 11 games in his first season as coach.

Aftermath

This was the final California Bowl played, due to NCAA certification being lost. The game would move to

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, keeping the tie-ins to the Big West and the MAC while being christened as 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 ...

. The Bulldogs joined the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

in 1992. The Bulldogs won the WAC title in their first two seasons, winning the

Freedom Bowl The Freedom Bowl was an annual post-season college football bowl game played at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California, from 1984 to 1994. The bowl frequently invited a team from the Western Athletic Conference to compete against an at-large opp ...

and losing the

Aloha Bowl The Aloha Bowl was a National Collegiate Athletic Association Football Bowl Subdivision (then known as Division I-A) college football bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii at Aloha Stadium. History The Aloha Bowl was established in 1982 by Mackay ...

. However, Sweeney's last three season were all losing seasons (the first since 1978-81). The Bulldogs rebounded in 1999 with a WAC title under Sweeney's successor,

Pat Hill Lawrence Patrick Hill (born December 17, 1951) is an American football coach, former player, and broadcaster. He served as the head football coach at Fresno State from 1997 until his dismissal following the 2011 season. In 15 seasons as head coa ...

. Incidentally, his first bowl game was in the successor to this bowl game, the

References

{{Fresno State Bulldogs 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 Fresno State Bulldogs football bowl games Bowling Green Falcons football bowl games