The Cherry Bowl was an annual post-season

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 played in the

Pontiac Silverdome The Pontiac Silverdome (also known simply as the Silverdome) was a stadium in Pontiac, Michigan. It opened in 1975 and sat on 199 acres (51 ha) of land. When the stadium opened, it featured a fiberglass fabric roof held up by air pressure, ...

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Founde ...

, in 1984 and 1985.Foldesy, Jody. "Bowls burgeon as big business", ''The Washington Times''. December 21, 1997. Page A1. The Cherry Bowl was an early attempt to bring a game to Michigan, years before the

Motor City Bowl The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (known as the Motor City Bowl until 2009) was a post-season college football bowl game that was played annually from 1997 to 2013. The first five games (1997–2001) were played at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, ...

(later known as the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl) and its successor

Quick Lane Bowl The Quick Lane Bowl is a post-season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that began play in the 2014 season. Backed by the Detroit Lions of the National Football League, the game features a bowl-eligible team from the Big Ten Confere ...

. The Cherry Bowl and Motor City Bowl were played at the Pontiac Silverdome (the Motor City Bowl eventually moved to

Ford Field Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), as well as the annual Quick Lane Bowl college football bowl game, state champ ...

). The Cherry Bowl inaugural 1984 game drew more than 70,000 to an Army-Michigan State matchup. This game is noteworthy as Army's first-ever bowl appearance. For 1985, the bowl promised $1.2 million to each team, the fifth-highest payout among all bowls. The National Anthem, Half-time, and post-game shows were performed by area high school marching bands. For the 1984 game, the National Anthem and the post-game show were performed by the Marching Railroaders from Durand, Michigan. The mid-1980s were a time of upheaval in college football. The end of NCAA control over television rights resulted in a major increase in televised games, and TV rights fees dropped sharply amid the resulting glut, something not anticipated by the Cherry Bowl organizers. Adding to their problems, without the local Michigan State team attendance for the 1985 game between Maryland and Syracuse fell by nearly 20,000. Negotiations with

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

to become the game's title sponsor failed. Unable to meet its payout obligation and more than $1 million in debt, the Cherry Bowl folded.The Fifty-Year Seduction: How Television Manipulated College Football, from the Birth of the Modern NCAA to the Creation of the BCS, by Keith Dunnavant, 2004, pg. 197

Game results

Game summaries

1984 Cherry Bowl The 1984 Cherry Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan between the Army Cadets and the Michigan State Spartans on December 22, 1984. The game was the final contest of the 1984 NCAA Divis ...

1984 saw the first edition of the Cherry Bowl, between

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

It was Army's first bowl game in program history, and Michigan State's first since the

1966 Rose Bowl The 1966 Rose Bowl was the 52nd edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Saturday, January 1. The fifth-ranked UCLA Bruins of the AAWU (Pac-8) upset the undefeated and top-ranked Michiga ...

. The first quarter of the game ended without score; a second quarter 4-yard touchdown gave Army a 7–0 halftime lead. After a scoreless third quarter, Army converted a 35-yard FG in the 4th to extend its lead to 10–0. Michigan State attempted a comeback with a 36-yard touchdown, but a failed two-point conversion led to a 10–6 final.

1985 Cherry Bowl

The 1985 Cherry Bowl was the second and last to be played, this one contested by #20

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

. The scoring opened in the 1st with a 26-yard Syracuse field goal. Maryland countered with a 4-yard touchdown run, making it 6–3. A 10-yard run in the 2nd gave Syracuse a 10–6 lead; however, the Terrapins would overpower Syracuse, scoring 29 consecutive points, and Syracuse was unable to rally in a 35–18 Maryland victory.

References

{{Reflist Defunct college football bowls American football in Michigan Sports in Pontiac, Michigan

Game results

Game summaries

1984 Cherry Bowl The 1984 Cherry Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan between the Army Cadets and the Michigan State Spartans on December 22, 1984. The game was the final contest of the 1984 NCAA Divis ...

1985 Cherry Bowl

See also

References