The 1981 California Bowl was an American 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 ...

played on December 19, 1981 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 ho ...

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, maki ...

. The game pitted the

Toledo Rockets The Toledo Rockets are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Toledo. The Rockets compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The ...

and 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 ...

Background

Toledo went 8–1 in conference play, with only a loss to Bowling Green State on the road being the blemish, though the Rockets finished as champions of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

for the first time since 1971, which was the last time they had qualified for a

. They were attempting to break their school record for most total offense (4,021), with the Rockets having 3,968 prior to the game. As for San Jose State, they went a perfect 5–0 in the

Pacific Coast Athletic Association 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 ...

to finish as champions for the first time since 1978. This was their first bowl game since the Pasadena Bowl in 1971, with the two previous bowl games being at

Ratcliffe Stadium Ratcliffe Stadium is a collegiate athletic venue in the western United States, located on the campus of Fresno City College in Fresno, California. Opened in 1926, it was renamed in 1941 after their first football coach, Emory Ratcliffe. The st ...

, near where Bulldog Stadium was located.

Game summary

The Rockets had the ball at their 20 with less than a minute to go. They drove 56 yards with two passes from quarterback Maurice Hall to set up a 41 yard field goal attempt for Tony Lee, whose longest field goal was 40 yards, with one missed kick from that distance already in the game. With 15 seconds to play, Lee's kick was good, and the Rockets pulled ahead to win the inaugural California Bowl. San Jose State had 29 first downs to Toledo's 21, while the Rockets had 221 rushing yards to the 54 yards the Spartans had. As for passing, the Spartans had 467, while the Rockets had 265. Toledo outgained San Jose in return yards 133 to 102. Toledo turned the ball over three times, while San Jose turned it over six times. San Jose had 10 penalties for 85 yards while Toledo had 3 penalties for 25 yards. Possession time favored the Rockets, by 16 seconds. For Toledo, Maurice Hall went 11-of-21 for 265 yards and one touchdown, with one interception. Arnold Smiley rushed for 144 yards on 29 carries, while Rodney Achter caught 4 passes for 102 yards. For San Jose State, Steve Clarkson went 43-of-62 for 467 yards (both school records) for three touchdowns and five interceptions. Gerald Willhite caught 18 passes for 124 yards.

Scoring summary

*Toledo -

Rodney Achter Rodney Lee Achter (born February 14, 1961), better known as Rod Achter, is a former gridiron football wide receiver. Achter was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the ninth round of the 1983 NFL Draft with the 239th overall pick. He later playe ...

45 yard touchdown run (Tony Lee kick) *San Jose State - 25 yard field goal by Mike Berg *Toledo - Arnold Smiley 7 yard touchdown run (Lee kick) *Toledo - Steve Schafer 12 yard touchdown pass from Maurice Hall (Lee kick) *San Jose State -

Mervyn Fernandez Mervyn L. Fernandez (born December 29, 1959), nicknamed Swervin' Mervyn, is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver with the BC Lions in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and Los Angeles Raiders in the Nati ...

12 yard touchdown pass from Steve Clarkson (Fernandez pass from Clarkson) *Toledo - 27 yard field goal by Lee *San Jose State - Fernandez 22 yard touchdown pass from Clarkson (kick failed) *San Jose State - Fernandez 35 yard touchdown pass from Clarkson (Taylor pass from Gerald Willhite) *Toledo - 41 yard field goal by Lee

Aftermath

This was Stobart's last game with Toledo, as he left for Utah after the game. The Rockets went to the California Bowl three years later, losing to UNLV, though the game was later forfeited when it was found that UNLV used ineligible players. The Rockets did not return to nor win a bowl game until 1995. San Jose State returned to the bowl in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

, which they won.

References

{{Toledo Rockets bowl game navbox California Bowl California Bowl San Jose State Spartans football bowl games Toledo Rockets football bowl games

Bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom forming a seamless curve. This makes ...