The 1987 California Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game that featured 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 ...

and the Eastern Michigan Hurons.

Background

In four seasons, Eastern Michigan coach Jim Harkema had the Hurons rise from 1-10 to 2-7-2 to 4-7 to 6-5. In his fifth season, they won 9 games in the regular season along with winning 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 ...

title, their first conference title since 1957. San Jose State, on the other hand, had been rising for years. They finished the season with one more victory than they did the year before as they won their 2nd straight

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, which was their 3rd title in the decade, qualifying them for their third ever California Bowl. San Jose State was a 17½ point favorite coming into this game.

Game summary

* Eastern Michigan - Bob Foster 1-yard run (Tim Henneghan PAT), 9:39 remaining in the 1st quarter * San Jose State - Kenny Jackson 6-yard run (S. Olivarez PAT), 7:19 remaining in the 1st quarter * Eastern Michigan - Tim Henneghan 42-yard field goal, 1:51 remaining in the 1st quarter * Eastern Michigan - Bob Foster 1-yard run (Tim Henneghan PAT), 9:00 remaining in the 2nd quarter * San Jose State - Bill Klump 1-yard pass from James Saxon (Sergio Olivarez PAT), 1:20 remaining in the 2nd quarter * San Jose State - Johnny Johnson 12-yard pass from Mike Perez (Sergio Olivarez PAT), 2:43 remaining in the 3rd quarter * Eastern Michigan - Gary Patton 15-yard run (Kick failed), 14:55 remaining in the 4th quarter * San Jose State - James Saxon 16-yard run (Pass failed), 9:36 remaining in the 4th quarter * Eastern Michigan - Craig Ostrander 32-yard pass from Ron Adams (Tim Henneghan PAT), 3:59 remaining in the 4th quarter Gary Patton rushed for 130 yards for the Hurons (who had 212 rushing yards in total while holding the Spartans to 81) in an MVP effort.

Aftermath

Despite having winning seasons the following two years, the Hurons weren't invited to a bowl game. Eastern Michigan changed the name of the team to the Eagles in 1991. The 1995 season under

Rick Rasnick Ricky Dean Rasnick (September 15, 1959 – February 13, 2019) was an American college football coach. He was the head football coach at Eastern Michigan University from 1995 to 1999. Rasnick's 1995 team was the last Eastern Michigan Eagles footb ...

(after Harkema resigned in 1992, with two other coaches following him before they were fired) was their last season above .500 until 2016, when the Eagles went 7-5. Even though they finished 6-6 in 2011, the Eagles' two wins over FCS squads resulted in them not being invited to a bowl. In 2016, Eastern Michigan was finally invited to another bowl game, the Popeye's

Bahamas Bowl The Bahamas Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually in Nassau, Bahamas, at the 15,000-seat Thomas Robinson Stadium. First held in 2014, the Bowl has tie-ins with the Mid-American Conference ...

against

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (Old Dominion or ODU) is a public research university in Norfolk, Virginia. It was established in 1930 as the Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary and is now one of the largest universities in Virginia w ...

. They were beaten 24-20. The Spartans would return to the California Bowl in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

, which was their last until 2006. Eastern Michigan and San Jose State would meet once more in the

2022 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl The 2022 Famous Idaho Potato Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 20, 2022, at Albertsons Stadium in Boise, Idaho. The 26th annual Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the game featured the Eastern Michigan Eagles from the Mid-American ...

, with the now-Eagles prevailing again, 41-27.

References

{{San Jose State Spartans 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 Eastern Michigan Eagles football bowl games San Jose State Spartans 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 ...