Ranking the 30 Greatest National Championship Games
By Zach Bigalke
6. 1987 Fiesta Bowl
#2 Penn State d. #1 Miami 14-10
BEFORE THE GAME
College football was presented with an interesting situation in 1986, as the top two teams in the country were both undefeated independent powerhouses. With the Orange Bowl committed to the Big 8 champion, the Sugar Bowl locked into hosting the SEC champion, the SWC guaranteed a spot in the Cotton Bowl, and both the Big Ten and Pac-10 secure in their Rose Bowl affiliation, there were a limited number of places where the first and second teams in the polls might square off against one another.
Enter the Fiesta Bowl. Formed in the 1970s to provide a guaranteed annual destination for the WAC champion, the Fiesta Bowl had turned into one of the preeminent bowls in the country. Only the Citrus Bowl in Orlando also had the capability of featuring a national championship between independent schools, and the two aspiring bowls battled to land the pair. Eventually they decided on Arizona for their destination, and for the only time prior to the Coalition/Alliance era the Fiesta Bowl hosted a national championship game.
The game was advertised as a battle between “Good” Penn State and “Evil” Miami. The Hurricanes reveled in their villain status, arriving in the desert in fatigues to hype the showdown as warfare. Throughout the week leading up to the game, the enmity built until things had boiled over by gametime. Both teams were vying to win a second national championship in the 1980s, and the Fiesta Bowl would set new TV viewing records for a college game.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
The two defenses took center stage at the beginning of the Fiesta Bowl. Miami had a much easier time gaining leverage against the Nittany Lions, but they couldn’t translate that success into points. Penn State had a much tougher time moving the ball, and they would ultimately finish the game with fewer than 200 total yards of offense. But as the game advanced toward halftime, Melvin Bratton put Miami on the scoreboard first with a short touchdown run with less than seven minutes in the second quarter. Penn State responded with less than two minutes remaining as John Shaffer tied things up on a quarterback run.
Miami didn’t score again until less than 12 minutes remained in regulation, taking a 10-7 lead on a 38-yard Mark Seelig field goal. D.J. Dozier restored the Penn State lead two and a half minutes later on an eight-yard TD run. The Hurricanes outgained their opponents nearly three-to-one on offense, but seven total turnovers proved Miami’s downfall. Vinny Testaverde threw five interceptions, the last intercepted in the red zone in the waning seconds of the game. The last turnover sealed the second national championship in five years for Paterno and the Nittany Lions.