The 1997 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl game was a post-season college football

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 ...

between the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot is the Nittany Lion. The interc ...

and the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

on January 1, 1997, at Sun Devil Stadium in

Tempe, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Vale of Tempe , image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg , imagesize = 260px , image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...

. Penn State defeated Texas, 38-15. The game was part of the 1996-1997

Bowl Alliance The Bowl Alliance was an agreement among college football bowl games (specifically the Sugar, Orange, and Fiesta Bowls) for the purpose of trying to match the top two teams in a national championship game and to provide quality bowl game match ...

of the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season and represented the concluding game of the season for both teams. The Longhorns, who were fresh off their upset of No. 3

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

in the first ever Big 12 Championship Game, went into their second straight Alliance bowl with a five-game winning streak.

Game Summary

Texas outgained Penn State 242-95 yards in the first half and posted a 12-7 lead at the half. Quarterback James Brown completed 13 of 18 passes for 150 yards and

Ricky Williams Errick Miron (born Errick Lynne Williams Jr.; May 21, 1977) is an American former football running back who played 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and one season in the Canadian Football League (CFL). After playing baseball ...

ran for 47 yards and a touchdown on nine carries in the first 30 minutes. However, an interception, two drives which were stopped at the Penn State 11, and a failed two-point conversion allowed the Nittany Lions to remain close. Penn State’s opening score was set up by a Brown interception at the Texas 26 on the second play from scrimmage. The Lions drove to the end zone in four plays, which ended in a four-yard touchdown pass from Wally Richardson to Curtis Enis. The Longhorns bounced back and drove to the Penn State seven, and

Phil Dawson Philip Drury Dawson (born January 23, 1975) is a former American football placekicker. He played for the Cleveland Browns from 1999 to 2012 and holds their franchise record for most field goals made, passing Hall of Famer Lou Groza in 2010. He pl ...

connected on a 28-yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3. The Lions ended with a three-and-out on consecutive possessions and, on their first possession of the second quarter, Texas planned another solid drive and found the end zone as Williams charged ran across the goal line for a seven-yard score. The two-point conversion failed. The third quarter was the turning point in the game. Penn State scored 21 points with three rushing scores and limited the Longhorns to just a field goal. Penn State led 28-15 at the end of the third quarter. On the Lions’ final series of the third quarter, Chafie Fields set up a one-yard touchdown run by Anthony Cleary on an 85-yard double-reverse to the Texas five-yard line. Texas failed to produce any more offense as Penn State scored 10 more points to seal the 38-15 victory. Penn State outgained the Texas offense 425-360, 330-118 in the second half.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1997 Fiesta Bowl (01)

Fiesta Bowl The Fiesta Bowl is an American college football bowl game played annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area. From its beginning in 1971 until 2006, the game was hosted at the Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Since 2007, the game has been pla ...

Penn State Nittany Lions football bowl games Texas Longhorns football bowl games Fiesta Bowl Bowl Alliance January 1997 sports events in the United States 1997 in sports in Arizona