Best quote in the entire article:

(Miami's) Jerome Brown: "Did the Japanese sit down and eat with Pearl Harbor before they bombed them? No. We're outta here."

(Penn State's) John Bruno: "Excuse me. But didn't the Japanese lose the war?"

filed under games i'm too young to remember

This article does drive home the point that if you want something you have to take it out of the hands of the people who have it.

Concerning the playoffs, I've always been of the mindset that if fans really wanted they playoff system they could get one simply by boycotting college football for one year.

We don't do it because we don't care either way. We just want to be entertained and have something to talk to strangers about the next day

Pwned by a punter. Classic.

The Cotton Bowl could have tried to woo another conference (for example, the ACC), but stuck with the SWC. When it disbanded, they were set adrift.

Pat - that Jerome Brown quote was a classic. There was a longtime sports radio host in Los Angeles named Jim Healy who had a short (15-30 minute) show every weeknight that featured numerous sound bites that he interspersed with news and rumors of the day in the sports world. The quote from Jerome Brown became a staple of his show (along with many, many other classics from the likes of Tommy Lasorda, Howard Cosell, etc.). I probably have heard that sound bite hundreds of times thanks to Jim Healy.

Ah....I miss Jim Healy.

Re #3: The Cotton Bowl lost a lot of its luster before the SWC disbanded. The SWC only had one team outside of Texas and then they had half the teams on probation at various times in the 80s, which limited their TV exposure, so there wasn't much national interest in the conference.

Great article. I love these old war stories and wish there were more of them around. The Paterno comment about playing them in a parking lot, childlike pettiness from dignified figures in setting up the game and the 17 star general all gave me a good chuckle.

I'm a ND & 49er fan, so I'd probably run Jimmy Johnson over with my car if he wasn't looking. But that Miami swagger was something special. I'd rather see that any day than those police state sheriffs that are always patrolling the coaches. Bring back the cutoffs.

That game seems like a hundred years ago and . . . . Testaverde is STILL playing. Amazing.

8: That just made me think about something. Should we consider Vinny to be one of the best athletes of our time because of his longevity?

No.

Pat, your comment made me need to read this article. Thanks :)

'Another smart play by Vinny T!' -Jim Lampley

Then two plays later, good old Vinny T would throw a pick. This was of course all back in the days when Belichick couldn't coach, and Vinny T. replaced Bernie Kosar in Cleveland, and there were crucifictions of the Browns on the evening news every night. Ah, how things change, and yet Vinny T. is suiting up for Belichick again.

What college football? Never heard of it.

Why do I get the feeling Daniel Stubbs is that old guy you see in every night club, reeking of Drakar Noir and pawing women half his age? It's been 20 years and he sounds like he's still the same schmuck he was at 19.

2: I get that impression as well about a playoff system. I think it will eventually happen when multiple teams have a freak year and they ALL finish with perfect records. i.e. A team from the Big East, SEC, Big Ten and ACC all don't lose a game.

So we have an XP on a 1987 Bowl Game, and one on this year's Sugar Bowl asswhoopin', but tOSU gets destroyed by Florida in the BCS Bowl and nothing?

2:

Growing up in AZ as a Sun Devil fan, this was the biggest game I'd ever seen and Tempe was transformed into a surreal national spotlight that week. I remember thinking how far the Fiesta Bowl had come from being ASU's next home game, and the bowl excitement of two non-AZ teams playing for all the marbles started right then. Ah, the memories...

Sam!

If you find an article you like and want it linked in XP, send the link to one of the Outsiders. They may post it.

They've posted some of mine. They've rejected some of mine as well.

MCS

RE: Harris.

The thing about highschool girls is, the older I get, they stay the same age.

Love them redheads!

#6 is right. The old SWC could have more appropriately been called The Texas Conference. Only one team in the SWC did not reside in Texas, and that was Arkansas. Quite obviously, there was not much of a reason to pay much attention to the conference on a national level.

As for the whole article, I read it a few days ago and I was not quite sure what to think. In a way I thought it was a good article, but by the same token I had a sneaking suspicion that it was also a lot of the typical histrionics that you get from ESPN.

The intro states, "Trash talk, the BCS, corporate sponsorships -- It all began twenty years ago with Miami-Penn State."

Sorry, but I don't buy that at all.

For starters, trash talk has been around forever. Sure, it has likely been greatly increased in the past several years due to the large number of media outlets who will publish the trash talk, but nonetheless, trash talking is by no means some sort of new phenomenon. It's as old as football itself.

The idea that the 1 v. 2 matchup really sparked the BCS, I thought, was a bit bogus as well. Sure, it didn't hurt, mind you, but it wasn't exactly the first time 1 faced 2. Just off the top of my head, I know Alabama (#2) beat Penn State (#1) on a Goal Line Stand in the 1979 Sugar Bowl, and there were a few #1 v. #2 matchups in bowl games before that. Moreover, we had many more #1 v. #2 matchups over the years before the BCS came about. I know Alabama v. Miami in the 1993 Sugar Bowl was #1 v. #2, and I'm pretty sure the 1994 game between Nebraska and FSU was as well. The same goes for 1996 Florida v. Florida State. I don't see how you can specifically pick this game out and say it was really any different than the others.

Also, corporate sponsorships at the time were beginning to boom everywhere. This game may have been one of the first in that regard, but I don't see where this game changed anything in that respect. This game was essentially just an example of a typical thing in those days, i.e. the rise in corporate sponsorship of athletic events.

Also the article kind of gets at the point that Miami's thug image started with this game. I disagree. While this game certainly didn't help it, the fact remains that we could go on for days about things that Miami has done to give it the thug image. It was not, by any stretch of the imagination, an isolated event.

Again, I thought the article was a nice read, especially considering I'm a bit young to remember it that well, but I'm not too sure I agree with the sweeping conclusions they make.

I don’t see how you can specifically pick this game out and say it was really any different than the others.

Because it was specifically crafted to provide a #1 vs #2 matchup. The other #1 vs #2 matchups you mentioned were either an independent vs a tie-in, or two tie-ins that happened to be #1 vs #2.

It made people realize "hey, maybe they're watching this to watch #1 vs #2, not just because they always watch the Sugar Bowl".

It seems obvious now. But college football wasn't as popular then.

Also, corporate sponsorships at the time were beginning to boom everywhere. This game may have been one of the first in that regard, but I don’t see where this game changed anything in that respect.

Highest rated college football game in history. When something gets as much attention as this did, it draws advertisers like moths to a flame.

This was an awesome article. I love reading about the history of the game. Everyone on ABC/FOX/ESPN WANTS us to forget about all the other over-hyped bowl and regular season games before. They always use phrases like, "Game of the Century", "Game of the Decade", etc... when in reality they are just hyping up this weeks/month matchup.

The first over-hyped game I remember was FSU-ND in 1993.

Does anybody remember how long fans have been clamoring for a playoff in college football? Seems like the first time I recall the topic was about 1991(?) when Miami and Washington were the top 2 teams.

But maybe that's the first time I was old enough to notice it.

But also, before that time there wasn't internet and there wasn't much talk radio for the topic to even be discussed.

Harris: you are an a_ _. I went to high school with Danny Stubbs. He was a sweet nice guy to an inocent white girl like me then, AND I am sure he is to this day!