The Freedom Bowl featured the

San Diego State Aztecs The San Diego State Aztecs are the athletic teams that represent San Diego State University (SDSU). San Diego State currently sponsors six men's and eleven women's sports at the varsity level. The Aztecs compete in NCAA Division I ( FBS for foo ...

and the

Tulsa Golden Hurricane The Golden Hurricane are the athletic teams that represent the University of Tulsa. These teams are referred to as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (or variously as TU or Tulsa). Before adopting the name Golden Hurricane in 1922, the University of T ...

as their

postseason The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

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 Subdivi ...

to end the 1991 NCAA Division I-A football season for both teams.

Background

While the Aztecs finished second in 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, and Texas. Due to mos ...

, they were invited to their first bowl game since the

1986 Holiday Bowl The 1986 Holiday Bowl was a college football bowl game played December 30, 1986, in San Diego, California. It was part of the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. It featured the 19th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, and the unranked San Diego State Azte ...

. They were led by Marshall Faulk, who in his freshman year ran for 1,429 yards rushing and scored 23 total touchdowns. Meanwhile, this was Tulsa's 2nd bowl appearance in three seasons.

Game summary

Ron Jackson scored all of Tulsa's touchdowns four in total with three of them giving Tulsa the lead and the final being the exclamation point. He rushed for 211 yards on 46 carries. Faulk gave the Aztecs the lead with a touchdown run, though Tulsa responded with by scoring two straight touchdown runs by Jackson. Lowery made the game tied at halftime with a touchdown run. But the Aztecs were stuffed in the second half, being held to a field goal with 83 total yards as Tulsa scored twice more and never looked back. A key moment in the game happened when

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

/ punter

Gus Frerotte Gustave Joseph Frerotte (; born July 31, 1971) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the 1994 NFL Draft. He played college football at Tulsa. Frerotte, who was selected to ...

punted the ball to T. C. Wright with Tulsa leading 21–17. Wright was at his own eight when he fumbled the ball, and Billy Cole recovered for Tulsa. Two plays later, the Hurricane scored on Jackson's final touchdown to give Tulsa their first bowl win since 1964.

Aftermath

The Hurricane went into a slump from that point on, going 26–57–1 under Rader in the eight years after the game before being fired, in contrast to his 26–26 record before this game. The Freedom Bowl would play three more games before disbanding after 1994.

Statistics

References

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 op ...

Freedom Bowl San Diego State Aztecs football bowl games Tulsa Golden Hurricane football bowl games

{{Collegefootball-bowl-stub