Legends of the Pen: "Bowlitis"

Dec. 12 Legends of the Pen: A Bowl Awaits
Nov. 11 Legends of the Pen: Nothing Comes Easy
Oct. 20 Legends of the Pen: 1970 Squad Had Great Turnaround
Oct. 1 Legends of the Pen: The 1984 Team Was Special
Sept. 9 Legends of the Pen: College Football Time At SU

Long about the end of summer, a strange, somewhat malaise-type of "illness," apparently football related, seems to strike scores of college football fans.

As the months turn into November, for lack of a more technical title, I will call it "bowlitis" often seems to hit epidemic proportions. There is basically only one cure--a bowl bid. Are we going bowling or aren't we? For the 122 Division I teams, the answer these days is a resounding "yes" for the majority.

For 70 teams, fans are suddenly healthy again. From the east to the west, the north to the south these days there is pretty much a bowl available to help prolong the season for roughly another six weeks.

So for all you "bowlitis" faithful, let's do a short history of the bowl picture that we have now and how it all began. And then look at where Syracuse football fits into the grand scheme of things.

The first bowl game was the Rose Bowl, aptly now dubbed the grand-daddy of all bowls. On Jan. 1, 1902, Michigan and Stanford squared off in Pasadena, California. The midwesterners won, 49-0. For whatever the reason, game number two didn't take place until 1916 with Washington State blanking Brown (there was no Ivy League in those days), 14-0.

Pasadena has been the site of all but one Rose Bowl game. Because the attack on Pearl Harbor had brought the US into World War II and the fear of a possible invasion or attack on the west coast, the 1942 contest was played in Durham, N.C., with Oregon State edging Duke, 20-16.

The second and third bowls--the Orange and the Sugar, arrived on the scene on Jan.1 of 1935 with Bucknell blanking Miami (Fla.), 26-0, in the former, while down in New Orleans Tulane toppled Temple, 20-14.

Next came the Sun Bowl a year later. Then in 1937 the first Cotton Bowl took place with TCU beating Marquette, 16-6.

This gave us five bowls. The Gator started in 1946, followed by the Tangerine (now the Capital One) a year later. The Liberty arrived in 1959. This gave us eight bowls. Translated another way, it meant that four teams that may have finished in the Top 20 (20 in those days, not the Top 25 we know today) stayed home. Syracuse would face this situation in 1967

Over the years, bowls continued to be added, some fell by the wayside and some have changed names as bowl sponsors became more and more a part of bowl life. Thus we have the 35 bowls being contested in 2010.

Now we come to the Orange of Syracuse. The upcoming Pinstripe in New York City will be SU's 23rd bowl showing. Syracuse has a 12-9-1 bowl report card. It took four games to post the first victory but it certainly remains one to be remembered. That was the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1960 when Syracuse defeated Texas, 23-14. It completed an unbeaten season, a national championship and earned Ben Schwartzwalder coach-of-the year honors.

The first bowl trip was to the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1953. Syracuse was down only 21-6 at the half but got mauled after the break with a final score of 61-6. Joe Szombathy caught aTD pass for the six points. The next bowl came four years later in Dallas where Jim Brown put on a one-man show with three TDs, and three kicked PATs but TCU won, 28--27.

In '59, it was back to the Orange Bowl and a 21-6 loss to Oklahoma. But then came the 1959 season in all its Orange glory. One of the key plays of the season came in the first half when Ger Schwedes took a toss from QB Dave Sarette and threw a bomb to Ernie Davis for a 87-yard touchdown.

The '60s saw an Orange win in the Liberty Bowl, a 13-10 loss to LSU in the Sugar Bowl, an 18-12 defeat to Tennessee in the Gator and then in 1967 nothing even though walloping No. 4 UCLA in the season finale in Los Angeles. Remember, there were only those eight bowl games. SU was 8-2 and a 12 ranking but there was no bowl slot open for the Oranage.

With a down turn in Orange football fortunes, there would not be another bowl until 1979 in the Independence Bowl. The upcoming contest on Dec. 30 will be SU's 15th bowl since.

Space does not allow us to mention each one but certainly there is the 16-16 tie with Auburn in the Sugar in 1988. That gave Syracuse its second unbeaten season. This was followed by seven straight bowl wins under coaches Dick MacPherson and Paul Pasqualoni.

And now to New York City. A 7-5 season after winning only 14 games in the previous 5 seasons. A chance for eight wins which would be the most since 10 in 2001.

And to all, a Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy new year. Go SU!

Syracuse University Athletics

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