The 1987 John Hancock Sun Bowl was the 54th annual

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose ...

. The contest featured the

West Virginia Mountaineers The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams that represent West Virginia University, an American university located in Morgantown, West Virginia. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The Mou ...

and the 11th-ranked

Oklahoma State Cowboys The Oklahoma State Cowboys and Cowgirls are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Oklahoma State University, located in Stillwater. The program's mascot is a cowboy named Pistol Pete. Oklahoma State participates at the National Col ...

. Oklahoma State edged out West Virginia, 35–33. The game was decided with 1:13 to play. The game was played on snowy, cold

Christmas Day Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, ...

of 1987 before a crowd of 43,240 in front of a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

national television audience. The game featured West Virginia's exciting new quarterback Major Harris, who had defeated

Browning Nagle Browning Nagle (born April 29, 1968) is a retired American football quarterback for the National Football League's New York Jets, Indianapolis Colts, and Atlanta Falcons. He also played as a quarterback for the Arena Football League's Orlando Pre ...

in the offseason for the Mountaineers' starting quarterback position. Nagle later transferred to

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

. It was also the final college game for Oklahoma State running back

Thurman Thomas Thurman Lee Thomas (born May 16, 1966) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He was selected by the Bills in the second round of th ...

, went on to

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

career in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

(NFL). Oklahoma State also featured tailback

Barry Sanders Barry Sanders (born July 16, 1968) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL), from 1989 to 1998 for the Detroit Lions. Sanders led the league in rushing yards four times and ...

. Sanders won the

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

the following season and also went on to Pro Football Hall of Fame career.

Game summary

The game featured a lot of offense, with teams trading touchdowns in the first quarter. Cowboys quarterback

Mike Gundy Michael Ray Gundy (born August 12, 1967) is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at Oklahoma State University. Gundy played college football at Oklahoma State, where he played quarterback from 1986 to 1989. ...

and wide receiver

Hart Lee Dykes Hart Lee Dykes Jr. (born September 2, 1966) is a former professional American football player who played wide receiver for two seasons in the National Football League (NFL) for the New England Patriots. He was awarded the Dial Award as the nati ...

completed a long pass off of a

flea flicker A flea flicker is an unorthodox play, often called a " trick play", in American football which is designed to fool the defensive team into thinking that a play is a run instead of a pass. It can be considered an extreme variant of the play actio ...

to set up a 5-yard touchdown by Thomas. West Virginia's Anthony "A.B." Brown answered with a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7. Thomas scored again on a 9-yard run to take a 14–7 lead for Oklahoma State. West Virginia, however, scored 17 unanswered points in the second quarter. West Virginia's Brown scored on a 5-yard run to tie the game at 14, and the Mountaineers extended their lead to 17–14 on a

Charlie Baumann Bruce Charles Baumann (born August 25, 1967) is a former professional American football placekicker in the National Football League and the Arena Football League. He played college football for West Virginia and was acquired through free agency ...

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

. West Virginia defensive lineman Darnell Warren intercepted

to extend the Mountaineer lead to 24–14 at the end of the first half. OSU reverted to Thomas to begin the second half, and he carried the ball six consecutive times, marching the Cowboys 56 yards down the field and scoring from 5 yards out to pull the Cowboys to within three at 24–21. West Virginia answered with a Baumann field goal to extend the lead to 27–21. Oklahoma State took at 28–27 lead with 1:43 left in the third quarter, by virtue of a six-yard touchdown pass from Gundy to J. R. Dillard. Thomas's dominance continued in the fourth quarter, as he capped a 13-play, 74-yard OSU drive with his fourth touchdown of the game, giving Oklahoma State a 35–27 lead with time running out in the fourth quarter. With just 1:13 remaining, West Virginia's Craig Taylor scored a touchdown on a 6-yard run to pull the game to within two. West Virginia attempted to tie the game on a

two-point conversion In gridiron football, a two-point conversion or two-point convert is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point conversion immediately after it scores a touchdown. In a two-point conversion attempt, the team that just scored must run ...

attempt. West Virginia quarterback Harris completed his two-point attempt pass to tight end Keith Winn, but Winn was tackled just shy of the goal line by Oklahoma State's Shawn Mackey. With the win, Oklahoma State finished its season 10-2, lost only to No. 1 Oklahoma and No. 5 Nebraska. Thurman Thomas was named the C.M. Hendricks Most Valuable Player, while Sanders would go on to win the Heisman Trophy one year later. West Virginia's Darnell Warren was named the Jimmy Rogers Jr. Most Valuable Lineman. Thomas still holds three Sun Bowl records: most rushing attempts (33), most points (24) and most touchdowns (4). Initially, Sun Bowl officials granted the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

an invitation to play Oklahoma State. The Buckeyes had beaten West Virginia in the season opener, and at 6–4–1 possessed a better record than the 6–5 Mountaineers. However, in the aftermath of the controversial firing of head coach

Earle Bruce Earle Bruce (March 8, 1931 – April 20, 2018) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Tampa (1972), Iowa State University (1973–1978), Ohio State University (1979–1987), the University of N ...

, Ohio State declined the invitation.

History of Ohio State Buckeyes football The history of Ohio State Buckeyes football covers 125 years through the 2014 season. The team has represented the Ohio State University in the Big Ten Conference, Western Conference, its successor the Big Ten Conference, Big Ten, and in the NCAA ...

Scoring summary

First quarter OSU - Thomas 5 run (Blanchard kick): OSU 7, WVU 0 WVU - Brown 1 run (Baumann kick): OSU 7, WVU 7 OSU - Thomas 9 run (Blanchard kick): OSU 14, WVU 7 Second quarter WVU - Brown 5 run (Baumann kick): OSU 14, WVU 14 WVU - FG Baumann 33: OSU 14, WVU 17 WVU - Warren 23 pass interception (Baumann kick): OSU 14, WVU 24 Third quarter OSU - Thomas 4 run (Blanchard kick): OSU 21, WVU 24 WVU - FG Baumann 38: OSU 21, WVU 27 OSU - Dillard 6 pass from Gundy (Blanchard kick): OSU 28, WVU 27 Fourth quarter OSU - Thomas 4 run (Blanchard kick): OSU 35, WVU 27 WVU - Taylor 6 run (Two-point conversion failed): OSU 35, WVU 33 (FINAL)

Individual statistics

Rushing
OSU - Thomas 33-157, Sanders 6-19, Gundy 8-9
WVU - Brown 32-167, Harris 24-103, Taylor 12-58, Napoleon 2-3 Passing
OSU - Gundy 12-18-161
WVU - Harris 7-21-54 Receiving
OSU - Dykes 3-72, Thomas 3-20, Williams 1-19, Dillard 3-18, Keith 1-16, Green 1-16
WVU - Bell 1-45, Winn 1-9

References

External links

1987 Sun Bowl, 1st Half
at

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1987 Sun Bowl, 2nd Half
at

{{West Virginia Mountaineers bowl game navbox

Sun Bowl Oklahoma State Cowboys football bowl games West Virginia Mountaineers football bowl games December 1987 sports events in the United States 1987 in sports in Texas