The 1984 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 15, 1984 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

UNLV Rebels The UNLV Rebels are the intercollegiate athletics teams that represent the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The Rebels compete in the NCAA Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision for college football) as a member of the Mountain West Confer ...

and 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 ...

Background

The Rebels rebounded from a 7–4 year in 1983 to win 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 ...

title with a perfect conference record, with their only losses being to Hawaii and SMU. This was UNLV's first ever bowl game appearance. The Rockets started the season 5–0–1, with victories over four conference opponents and a tie at Ohio. A loss to Kent State was their only conference loss, as they finished the season with three straight conference wins (and a loss against independent Temple) 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 second time in four seasons.

Game summary

*UNLV — Gladney 19 yard touchdown pass from

Randall Cunningham Randall Wade Cunningham Sr. (born March 27, 1963) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He spent the majority of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles and is also known for ...

(Joey DiGiovanna kick), 11:29 *Toledo — 22 yard field goal by Walker, 4:20 *UNLV — Kirk Jones 7 yard touchdown pass from Cunningham (kick failed), 9:40 *Toledo — 36 yard field goal by Walker, 0:03 *UNLV — 44 yard field goal by Joey DiGiovanna, 8:55 *Toledo — Bill Foure 38 yard touchdown pass from

A. J. Sager Anthony Joseph Sager (born March 3, 1965) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) right-handed pitcher. He is currently the roving pitching instructor for the Detroit Tigers. Sager played for the San Diego Padres (1994), Colorado Rockies (1995) an ...

(Walker kick), 5:29 *UNLV — Ickey Woods 16 yard touchdown run (DiGiovanna kick), 4:14 *UNLV — Randall Cunningham 10 yard touchdown run (DiGiovanna kick) 1:10

went 18-of-28 for two touchdowns, one interception and one touchdown run. UNLV had 127 rushing yards, 270 passing yards, and 77 return yards. Toledo had 203 rushing yards, 137 passing yards, and 96 return yards. UNLV turned it over three times, while Toledo turned it over once.

Aftermath

After the game, it was found that UNLV had used ineligible players during the season. Despite the fact that they were not used in the bowl game, the school forfeited the win, though the NCAA does not recognize the forfeit. Because of this, both teams treat it as a victory in a technical sense. Toledo was given the trophy from the game, though when the two teams met years later, the trophy was evidently lost. Both teams underwent bowl droughts after this game, with the Rebels not going to a bowl game again until

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

and the Rockets not going to a bowl game until

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. Both teams won their games, which both took place in the Las Vegas Bowl, the successor to the California Bowl.

References

{{UNLV Rebels 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 Toledo Rockets football bowl games UNLV Rebels football bowl games 1984 in sports in California