I miss the bowl games being on the networks. All are on ESPN now. CBS had Lindsey Nelson and Gary Bender, ABC had Keith jackson and Al Michaels and NBC had Charlie Jones and Don Criqui. Mizlou had all the non big 4 games. Great days.
Growing up in Las Vegas, (b 1955) i loved the bowls. They grew every year, but through the 60's and most of the 70's, here was the following etched in stone (almost). On New Years Day at 11at PST, was the Cotton Bowl on CBS, and at the same time, on ABC, was the Sugar Bowl. Then, at 2p it was the Rose Bowl, and at 5p the Orange. Two major bowls being played at the same time, really stood out, and they tweaked it in the early 70's, and started playing the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Eve. NYE '73, had no.1 Alabama and no. 2 Notre Dame going at it, and Notre Dame won at the end, as Dave Casper's fellow tight end for Notre Dame, caught the key pass late.
It's all about agility now. Smashmouth is long gone in history. It's sad. Idc about tricks...I wanna see a guy knock the shit out of someone without getting a personal foul.
# 46 Wes Hopkins was at safety for SMU. Known as 1 of the best walk-ons to ever play at SMU. He went on to play 10 seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles and making the Pro Bowl. A good career with over 30 interceptions. Wes passed away in 2018 at 57 years old. May the Good Lord rest his soul. Rest In Peace Wes ✊🏾♥️
I remember watching this game and it was cold, rainy and the field was so slippery that day. I lived in Texas all my life so we would watch the Cotton Bowl even if the Longhorns were not playing, always enjoyed listening to Lindsey Nelson call the game. This was a hard fought game and the weather was why it was 0-0 for nearly 3 quarters, I thought Pitt played kinda dirty at times but SMU prevailed anyway. Marino was throwing too hard on some passes and Dickerson looked like he would break one at anytime. I always thought it was wrong for the NCAA to give SMU the death penalty when many other teams did the same thing.
NFL 1st round picks in this game. Dickerson and Dupard with SMU, Marino and Jimbo Covert Pitt. I remember watching this game. For a 7-3 game I was on the edge of my seat. All of Texas was in a deep freeze that New Years day. We where hoping for a outside chance that SMU would be picked Number One in final polls.
From Fitchburg Massachusetts. RIP to Todd Becker. He was a sophomore back up linebacker for Pitt who weeks before this game fell to his death at a on campus party. He was obviously drunk and so the story goes he was apparently banned from a certain dorm and when the campus cops showed up he thought he could get out from a window. Unfortunately he underestimated the drop and tragically died from the fall. I even read that a couple people were literally reaching out their hand to help but Todd refused the assistance and it ended in his death :(
Great football game reminiscent of the old school defensive games of past eras. On paper I deem Pitt to have been the better of the two teams, albeit only by a thin hair. Dan Marino had to be upset with his receivers for dropping more than a few critical passes he put right on their respective numbers. SMU, however, played great a game and won. The SMU defense was truly formidable and stifled a great Pitt offense. With this victory, I believe SMU should have won the 1982 national championship. At the very least they should have shared a split national championship with Penn State.
SMU should’ve played Georgia, but in those days they had their conference bowl tie-ins, Sugar and Cotton, and couldn’t meet. Most people thought Penn State would’ve beaten SMU, but who knows?
That Penn State team was great. I bet a friend of mine a dollar that Penn State would beat Georgia. I was just 15 so that was pretty much all I could afford.
Not scoring on that first drive was huge for Pitt. Ten points may have all that was needed to win but SMU’s defense made a great play penetrating to force the fumble. Pitt had trouble in its first loss that season scoring from close versus Notre Dame and led to field goals instead of crucial touchdowns.
When was the last time you saw a 7-3 game other than this? Always nice to hear Lindsay Nelson announce a game, the voice of college football. Back then, announcers were more nuanced and matter of fact, every play did NOT require a hysterical response.
What’s funny I found my old ticket stub for the 73 Sugar Bowl between Alabama and Notre Dame. It was the biggest game of the century at the time. Lol. My tickets cost 7 dollars!!!
Incredible coincidence Mike, I attended the Cotton Bowl the next year, and the kickoff temp was almost the same. A brutal weather system occupied the area for what seemed like a month. The city was almost paralyzed I remember- black ice on the road etc. Undefeated Texas had a golden opportunity to win the National Championship that game, as powerhouse no.1 Nebraska was later upset in the Orange Bowl. Georgia didn't have Herschel, and had their usual stud defense, but a mediocre offense, while Texas had a middle of the road offense, and a good defense. Low scoring game- Georgia drove late to win 10-7 I think. Remember seeing Walker in a full length fur coat, when I was entering the stadium.
@@remmymafia3889 Yes what that one too, it was nice weather that day. Georgia won on a muffed punt by Texas late in the 4th and Georgia scored on a bootleg causing us Longhorns to lose a National Championship after Nebraska losing to Miami later that night.
@@remmymafia3889 I don’t mind the cold as long as the sun is out. The next year was as bad as the SMU game but my brother and I didn’t have cover that one. In the upper deck with all the B.C. fans.
Jimbo Covert #75, and Tim Lewis #26 for Pitt, were also 1st round picks. Chris Doleman was a sophomore backup, and he's in the NFL Hall of Fame. This team was ridiculously loaded with talent.
we lost but our talent was way better and the conditions favored Pitt for that time of year, cold and wet, that pittsburgh winter weather, i was a big dickerson fan but a huge Pitt fan, i was 20yrs old in 83 first hershel waker in the 82 sugar bowl then dickerson in 83 both times Pitt's defense stepped up.
Pitt had 2 trips inside the 10 yard line and scored 0! If he didnt shank that 27 yard FG , pitt is running on 3rd and goal and Marino doesn't throw a int?
3 great players in Craig James, Eric Dickerson and Dan Marino and yet only 10 points. Stout defense or great defensive game planning or bad weather clearly.
I really hated this turf at the Cotton Bowl, any time there was even a hint of inclamate weather the game turned into the Ice Capades. Horrible turf. A lot of Cotten Bowls were ruined by this stuff.
I wouldn’t say Pitt let go of Sherrill. He was offered a massive contract by Texas A&M for the day’s standards and Pitt couldn’t match it. But your point stands, we were never the same after he left. Too bad they didn’t hire Jimmy Johnson, who was a defensive coordinator under Sherrill at Pitt.
An 8-team playoff would've been epic. #1 Georgia (11-0) v #8 Texas (9-2) #4 SMU (10-0-1) v #5 UCLA (9-1-1) #2 Penn State (10-1) v #7 Clemson (9-1-1) #3 Nebraska (11-1) v #6 Pitt (9-2)
Yo, you got the 91-92 and 93-94 Orange bowl and every one from 86 to present except the 92-93 FSU Nebraska game the year before fsu won 1st championship
Smu would've been co-national champs with this win, but they couldn't put Arkansas away in the season finale and tied them to finish 10-0-1 and fall to #4 from #2 and 11-0 Penn st jumped them and they instead played #1 Georgia in the sugar bowl. But it would've been Georgia SMU if they didn't choke the Arkansas game away
I don't know if SMU choked away the Arkansas game, but yeah, they clearly did not play up to their standards... I think SMU made the right call in going for one point conversion to tie the game. What people forget is that extra point to tie was, if memory serves me, with around 5 or 6 minutes left in the game, so it was not like they had the decision on last play of the game. Their main goal was to get to Cotton Bowl and a tie gets them in.. but what people forget is that SMU made a quick defensive stand and had the ball in plenty of time to operate a 2 minute drill to win the game with a FG.. but the 2 minute drill was terribly managed by Coach Collins and poorly executed by players too... the drive stalled, and I believe SMU missed a 50 something yard FG to win the game, or maybe they stalled out of FG range, I honestly don't remember.
All wrong. SMU as SWC Champs went to the Cotton Bowl. Georgia as SEC Champs went to the Sugar Bowl. 1 loss Penn St beat 1 loss Pitt in last game. Since Ga. was #1, Penn St. went to play them and SMU got stuck with 2 loss Pitt. Ponies needed a great showing to have a chance. The real team that was robbed was Nebraska. Got hosed on 2 calls at Penn St for their only loss and won OB to finish #3 @ 12-1.
That's the dumbest thing I've heard as marino's numbers were as good as any ones the reason he wasn't picked earlier is some folks thought he had a drug issue
@@jesseleblanc1199 Marino had more INT's than TD's in 1982. The reason he was still thought of highly was because of his previous season. The drug issues did add to it but many felt he wasn't as good as people thought.
