The 2021 Fiesta Bowl was a

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 January 2, 2021, with kickoff at 4:00 p.m. EST (2:00 p.m. local

MST The Master of Studies or Master in Studies (M.St. or MSt; ) is a postgraduate degree at the University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of St Andrews, the Australian National University, University of Dublin and the University of Ne ...

). It was the 50th edition of the

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 playe ...

, and was one of the 2020–21 bowl games concluding the 2020 FBS football season. Sponsored by video game brand

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

, the game was officially known as the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl. The bowl was celebrating its 50th anniversary, having been first played in 1971. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Arizona The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the U.S. state of Arizona in January 2020. As of June 3, 2021 Arizona public health authorities reported 322 new cases of COVID-19 and five deaths, bringing the cumulative totals since the st ...

, it was announced in early December that the game would be played behind closed doors, with only players' family members admitted.

Teams

As one of the

New Year's Six The New Year's Six, sometimes abbreviated as NY6, is an unofficial but commonly used term used to describe the following NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl games: the Rose Bowl Game, Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bo ...

bowl games, the participants of the game were determined by the College Football Playoff selection committee. The committee matched

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

and

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

, in the first meeting between the two teams.

Oregon

Oregon won the Pac-12 title after beating

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

in the

Pac-12 Championship Game The Pac-12 Football Championship Game is an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game from the 2011–2021 seasons had the champion of the North Division against the champi ...

on December 18, and received the conference's automatic bid to a New Year's Six bowl game. The team accepted a berth to the Fiesta Bowl on December 20, which was the program's third-ever Fiesta Bowl, after the 2002 and 2013 editions.

Iowa State

Iowa State lost to

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

in the

Big 12 Championship Game The Big 12 Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big 12 Conference between the best and the second-best Big 12 team. The game was played each year since the conference's formation in 1996 until 2010 and returned during the 20 ...

on December 19. They were eligible for an at-large selection to a New Year's Six bowl game, being ranked 10th in the College Football Playoff rankings on December 20, and received and accepted an invitation to the Fiesta Bowl that day. This was both Iowa State's first-ever Fiesta Bowl and New Year's Six bowl appearance.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Oregon Ducks bowl game navbox

Fiesta Bowl

Iowa State Cyclones football bowl games Oregon Ducks football bowl games