American Football Database
American Football Database
Advertisement
1979 Fiesta Bowl
1 2 3 4 Total
{{{Visitor School}}} 3 3 7 3 16
{{{Home School}}} 0 0 3 7 10
Date December 25, 1979
Season 1979
Stadium Sun Devil Stadium
Location Tempe, Arizona
MVP K Mark Schubert (Pittsburgh)
SS Dave Liggins (Arizona)
Attendance 55,347
United States TV coverage
Network NBC
Announcers: Charlie Jones and Len Dawson
Fiesta Bowl
 < 1978  1980

The 1979 Fiesta Bowl featured the Pittsburgh Panthers and the Arizona Wildcats.

Background[]

This was Pittsburgh's second Fiesta Bowl appearance. Arizona, despite finishing third in the Pacific-10 Conference, was invited to their first Fiesta Bowl game.

Game summary[]

Mark Schubert was the first kicker named MVP, with his three field goals helping the Panthers win a game that had four turnovers by Arizona and two by Pittsburgh. Schubert gave his team a lead they would never relinquish with his two field goals to have a 6–0 lead. Arizona responded with a Brett Weber field goal, but Benjie Pryor caught a touchdown pass from Dan Marino to increase the lead, as Schubert added in a field goal later to make it 16–3 at the end of three quarters. Arizona scored on a Hubert Oliver touchdown run to make it 16–10. After Pittsburgh punted the ball back to Arizona, the Wildcats looked to drive for the winning points with 1:05 left. But just seven seconds later, Jim Krohn's pass was intercepted by Terry White as the Panthers won their first Fiesta Bowl.[1]

Aftermath[]

Pittsburgh would return to the Fiesta Bowl in 1984, but as of 2018 have not won another Fiesta Bowl. Arizona would finally win a bowl game in 1986, and later returned to the Fiesta Bowl in 1994.

Statistics[]

Statistics Arizona Pittsburgh
First Downs 20 20
Yards Rushing 91 127
Yards Passing 226 172
Return Yards 46 37
Total Yards 363 336
Punts-Average 4-39.8 5-34.2
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-0
Interceptions 3 2
Penalties-Yards 7-85 10-89

References[]

Advertisement