The 1991 Aloha Bowl (December) was a post-season

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

between the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Stanford University. Stanford's program has won 138 National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA team championships, the List of NCAA schools ...

and the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The teams have also been nicknamed the ...

played on December 25, 1991, at

Aloha Stadium Aloha Stadium is a closed multi-purpose stadium in Halawa, Hawaii, a census-designated place that is a western suburb of Honolulu. It is the largest stadium in the state of Hawaii. , the stadium ceased fan-attended operations indefinitely, and ...

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

. It was the tenth edition of the bowl game. After trailing for most of the game, with just over a minute to play, Georgia Tech's

Willie Clay Willie James Clay (born September 5, 1970) is an American former professional football safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. He was selected in the eighth round (221st ov ...

returned a punt 63 yards to the Stanford 31. Quarterback Shawn Jones scored on a one-yard touchdown plunge with 14 seconds remaining whereupon the Yellow Jackets completed a 2-point conversion to take an 18–17 victory.

Teams

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

After being named national champion by the

Coaches' Poll In the United States, the Coaches Poll is a weekly ranking of the top 25 NCAA Division I (NCAA), Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, Division I (NCAA), Division I college basketball, and Division I college baseball teams. ...

in the previous season, Georgia Tech was coming off an uneven season, and a disappointing loss to rival

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. The team was led by its defense, including linebacker

Marco Coleman Marco Darnell Coleman (born December 18, 1969) is an American football coach and former player who is the defensive line coach for Georgia Tech and former assistant defensive line coach for the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NF ...

, defensive back

(who also returned punts), and lineman

Coleman Rudolph Coleman Rudolph (born October 22, 1970) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the New York Jets and the New York Giants. He was a second round draft pick ...

Stanford Cardinal

Stanford started the season 1–3 before recovering to win the last seven games of the season, including a Big Game win over rival and #6 ranked

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The Cardinal offense was led by "Touchdown"

Tommy Vardell Thomas Arthur "Touchdown Tommy" Vardell (born February 20, 1969) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a fullback (American football), fullback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college foo ...

, who had rushed for 1,084 yards and 20 touchdowns during the season, and quarterback Steve Stenstrom, who led the Pac-10 in passing.

Game summary

Stanford took the opening kickoff and drove 48 yards on six plays, with Vardell scoring from six yards out. The Yellow Jackets answered with a touchdown drive of their own, 60 yards in 10 plays, tying the game on a two-yard pass from quarterback Shawn Jones to Michael Smith. Georgia Tech got on the board again as time expired in the first quarter with a 24-yard Scott Sisson field goal. In the second quarter, the Cardinal tied the game on a 38-yard

Aaron Mills Aaron Scott Mills (born July 8, 1972) is an American former Arena Football League (AFL) kicker who, in a career lasting two years, played for the San Jose SaberCats (1995–1996). He holds the AFL league record for the longest field goal, with a ...

field goal, and then took the lead on another Vardell run, this one for two yards. In addition to the two touchdowns, Vardell rushed for 104 yards on the day and was named Stanford's MVP of the game. Stanford held the lead through the third quarter, but the Yellow Jackets had a huge scoring opportunity when Cardinal punter Paul Stonehouse fumbled a low snap at the Stanford 18 yard line. Georgia Tech drove to the Stanford one-yard line, but Rodney Williams fumbled, and Stanford linebacker Tom Williams recovered the ball to keep Stanford's lead into the final quarter. As time ran down in the fourth quarter, Stanford still had a 7-point lead but was forced to punt with 1:41 left. Georgia Tech's Clay fielded the punt at his own six-yard line and made the play of the game: he returned the punt 63 yards to the Stanford 31. From there, the Yellow Jackets drove to the Stanford goal line and scored on a one-yard rush from Jones (who was named Georgia Tech's game MVP) to make the score 17–16 with 14 seconds left in the game. Instead of opting for a tie, Tech head coach Bobby Ross called for the two-point conversion and sent Jimy Lincoln over the right end to give Georgia Tech the victory.

Scoring

First quarter

*Stanford -

6-yard run (

kick) *Georgia Tech - Michael Smith 2-yard pass from Shawn Jones ( Scott Sisson kick) *Georgia Tech - Sisson 24-yard field goal

Second quarter

*Stanford - Mills 38-yard field goal *Stanford - Vardell 2-yard run (Mills kick)

Third quarter

*No scoring.

Fourth quarter

*Georgia Tech - Jones 1-yard run (Jimy Lincoln run) *Georgia Tech - Griggs 28-yard punt return (Michael Bennet)

Aftermath

Following this game, both head coaches left for head coaching jobs in the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

: Dennis Green was named head coach of the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

and Bobby Ross took the head coaching job for the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

. Stanford hired

Bill Walsh William Ernest Walsh (November 30, 1931 – July 30, 2007) was an American professional and college football coach. He served as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and the Stanford Cardinal, during which time he popularized the West Coast off ...

to replace Green the next season, and primarily on the strength of Green's recruits, including quarterback Stenstrom, won the

Blockbuster Bowl The Pop-Tarts Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played in Orlando, Florida, at Camping World Stadium. Originally commissioned as the Sunshine Classic, it has undergone many name changes due to Naming rights, sponsorship rights. ...

and ended the season with a #9 ranking. Stenstrom would play five NFL seasons; Vardell was picked ninth in the

1992 NFL draft The 1992 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1992, at the Marriott M ...

by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

and played eight NFL seasons. Georgia Tech hired

Bill Lewis William Lewis (born 1 August 1953) is an England, English artist, story-teller, poet and mythographer.Milner, Frank, ed. ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p. 86, National Museums Liverpool 2004, . Pages 6–30, Charles Thomson (artist), Char ...

as its next coach; he was fired in his third season after failing to have a winning record in all three seasons. Quarterback Jones had a short NFL career; linebacker Coleman had a fourteen-year career in the NFL.

References

{{Stanford Cardinal bowl game navbox

Aloha Bowl The Aloha Bowl was a college football bowl game played in Honolulu, Hawaii, at Aloha Stadium. Certified by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the game featured teams from Division I-A (later known as the Football Bowl Subdivisio ...

Aloha Bowl Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football bowl games Stanford Cardinal football bowl games December 1991 sports events in the United States 1991 in sports in Hawaii