Coca-Cola Classic (college football)

Coca-Cola Classic (defunct)
Stadium Tokyo Dome
Location Tokyo, Japan
Previous stadiums Korakuen Stadium (1977–1979)
National Olympic Stadium (1980–1987)
Operated 1977–1993
Sponsors
Mitsubishi (1977–1985)
The Coca-Cola Company (1986–1993)
Former names
Mirage Bowl (1977–1985)

The Coca-Cola Classic was a regular season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college football game played in Tokyo, Japan, from 1977 to 1993. It was originally sponsored by Mitsubishi and known as the Mirage Bowl, and later sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company and renamed for the soft drink Coca-Cola Classic. Because the game was merely a re-location of a regular season game, it was not considered a traditional, postseason bowl game.

Corporate sponsorship

Mitsubishi

The Mirage Bowl was hosted by Mitsubishi Motors in Japan from its inception through 1985. The name refers to Mitsubishi's Mirage line of subcompact cars. Chrysler imported the Mirage and sold it in the US as the Dodge Colt and the Plymouth Champ.

Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company took over corporate sponsorship from Mitsubishi in 1986, renaming it the "Coca-Cola Classic". Other sports contests sponsored by Coca-Cola have also been called "Coca-Cola Classic", for example, in college basketball[1] and volleyball.[2] The company's flagship beverage, itself, was re-branded "Coca-Cola Classic" in the wake of the "New Coke" fiasco.

Game results

Italics denote a tie game.

DateWinnerLoser
December 11, 1977Grambling35Temple32
December 10, 1978Temple28Boston College24
November 24, 1979Notre Dame40Miami (FL)15
November 30, 1980UCLA34Oregon State3
November 28, 1981Air Force21San Diego State16
November 27, 1982Clemson21Wake Forest17
November 26, 1983SMU34Houston12
November 17, 1984Army45Montana31
November 30, 1985USC20Oregon6
November 30, 1986Stanford29Arizona24
November 28, 1987California17Washington State17
December 3, 1988Oklahoma State45Texas Tech42
December 4, 1989Syracuse24Louisville13
December 2, 1990Houston62Arizona State45
November 30, 1991Clemson33Duke21
December 6, 1992Nebraska38Kansas State24
December 6, 1993Wisconsin41Michigan State20

Notable games

1977

The first Mirage Bowl was played in Korakuen Stadium on December 11, 1977, between Grambling State and Temple. Grambling won the game, 35–32, and quarterback Doug Williams was named MVP.

1984

The game between Army and Montana marked the introduction of "The Wave" to Japan.

1988

Heisman Trophy winning running back Barry Sanders concluded his NCAA Division I-A (now FBS) record-setting rushing season in this game, since the NCAA did not begin counting bowl game statistics until 2002 (he would later gain 222 yards in the 1988 Holiday Bowl which are not included in his record-setting total). He watched the Heisman Trophy announcement in a Tokyo television studio at five o'clock in the morning.[3] Sanders rushed for more than 300 yards in Oklahoma State's 45–42 win against Texas Tech to finish the season with 2,628 yards.

1990

Houston quarterback David Klingler passed for 716 yards against Arizona State, a NCAA Division I-A (now FBS) single game passing yardage record that stood for decades until it was broken by Connor Halliday in 2014.[4]

1992

Nebraska won the Big Eight conference title, edging out runner up Colorado with the win.

1993

With the win, Wisconsin became co-champions of the Big Ten (with Ohio State, who they had tied earlier in the season) and received the invitation to the 1994 Rose Bowl, the program's first Rose Bowl appearance since the 1963 Rose Bowl.

See also

References

  1. ↑ WVU Record in Coca-Cola Classic
  2. ↑ University of Alaska Fairbanks Volleyball Archives
  3. ↑ Trotter, Jake (August 8, 2014). "Sanders' 1988 season stands alone". ESPN. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  4. ↑ Bonagura, Kyle (October 5, 2014). "Connor Halliday sets passing record". ESPN. Retrieved November 1, 2014.
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