Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl isn’t one that has a long incredible history like the Sugar, Rose or Orange Bowls might have but it became one of the biggest bowls around now a days. The Fiesta Bowl had its inaugural game in 1971 when the Arizona State Sun Devils defeated the Florida State Seminoles by seven in a 45-38 shootout that paved the way for dozens more of great Fiesta Bowl games. The game featured a $168,237 payout to each school which set an NCAA record for the highest payout to a school by a Bowl game. It wasn’t until the 1974 that the Fiesta Bowl got to strut their stuff in a national telecast of the game when CBS showed the Oklahoma State 16-6 victory over Brigham Young. A year after the country got to see the Fiesta Bowl they matched up Nebraska, who had a 10-1 record, and Arizona State, who was undefeated at 11-0, in a game that featured the best combined record in a bowl game that wasn’t played on New Year’s Day. The Sun Devils pulled out a victory with a score of 17-14 in one of the greatest Fiesta Bowls ever to be played and finished second in the final national polls. That was the game that put the Fiesta Bowl on the map. Since then the Fiesta Bowl has experienced exponential growth and is one of the biggest games in the country.

In 1998, college football switched from its normal way of choosing its national champion, by voting of coaches and writers, to a new system that analyzed the numbers of each team and it was called the Bowl Championship Series. In this they would have a National Championship game that would pit the number one and number two ranked teams in the country against each other so there wouldn't be any more split national champions. In all this the Fiesta, Rose, Sugar, and Orange Bowls were chosen to host not only one, but two National Championship games.

On January 4, 1999 the country saw the first unified National Championship game in college football. The game pitted the Tennessee Volunteers against the Florida State Seminoles in a very exciting game. The Volunteers pulled the game out by a score of 23-16 and completed the schools greatest season ever. It was the start of a beautiful relationship between the BCS and the Fiesta Bowl.

The next time the Fiesta Bowl hosted the National Championship came in 2003 when the University of Miami (FL) Hurricanes went up against the Ohio State University Buckeyes. The game has been dubbed the greatest college bowl game ever by a number of people around the world. The game was tooth and nail all night and needed extra time to finish the game. On the final drive in the second overtime the Ohio State defense kept the potent Hurricane offense from getting into the end zone from the one yard line on three consecutive tries and they won the game 31-24.

In 2007, the game changed locations and was played at the new University of Phoenix Stadium as the Oklahoma Sooners took on the Boise State Broncos which has since been called “one of the greatest college football games ever played,” as it was filled with trick plays and comebacks from both teams as well as a thrilling a finish in football as you could ever have. 

The 2009 Fiesta Bowl pitted the 10-2 Ohio State Buckeyes against the 11-1 Texas Longhorns.  The Horns, led by QB Colt McCoy won the game 24-21, handing the Buckeyes their third straight bowl loss. 

The 2010 Fiesta Bowl matched the undefeated TCU Horned Frogs (12-0) against the undefeated Boise State Broncos (13-0).  A number of firsts occurred; both teams qualified for a BCS Bowl and neither were automatic qualifying, it was the first time two unbeaten teams faced off in a BCS Bowl game (other than the National Championship Game) and Boise State became the second team in FBS (football Bowl Subdivision) history to finish their season at 14-0.