1979 Fiesta Bowl

1979 Fiesta Bowl
Pittsburgh Panthers	Arizona Wildcats
(10–1)	(6–4–1)
Independent	Pac-10
16	10
Head coach: ; Jackie Sherrill	Head coach: ; Tony Mason
AP	Coaches
10	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

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 have not won one since this game. 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

↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-11-02. Retrieved 2015-01-04.

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[1] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-11-02. Retrieved 2015-01-04.

Fiesta Bowl Game
History & conference tie-ins	History Sun Devil Stadium State Farm Stadium College Football Playoff Broadcasters College Football Playoff At-Large Group of Five Bid
Games	1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2014 2016 2016 2017 2019
Notes	The game was also the national title game for either the Bowl Coalition, Bowl Alliance, or Bowl Championship Series in 1996, 1999, and 2003. There was a Fiesta Bowl in January and December in 1997, 2014, and 2016. The game was a College Football Playoff semifinal in its December 2016 edition.