From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

1986 Freedom Bowl

Field	Value
year_game_played	1986
game_name	Freedom Bowl
subheader	Freedom Bowl III
football_season	1986
visitor_name_short	BYU
visitor_nickname	Cougars
visitor_school	Brigham Young University
home_name_short	UCLA
home_nickname	Bruins
home_school	University of California, Los Angeles
visitor_record	8–4
home_record	7–3–1
visitor_coach	Lavell Edwards
home_coach	Terry Donahue
home_rank_AP	15
home_rank_coaches	15
visitor_1q	3
visitor_2q	0
visitor_3q	0
visitor_4q	7
home_1q	7
home_2q	0
home_3q	17
home_4q	7
date_game_played	December 30
stadium	Anaheim Stadium
city	Anaheim, California
MVP	Gaston Green (UCLA RB)
anthem	BYU Cougar Marching Band
halftime	BYU Cougar Marching Band
referee	J.C. Louderback (Big Eight)
attendance	55,422
us_network	Mizlou Television Network
us_announcers_link	List of announcers of major college bowl games
us_announcers	Howard David and Jack Snow

The 1986 Freedom Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 30, 1986. It was the third Freedom Bowl Game. The UCLA Bruins defeated the BYU Cougars 31–10. UCLA tailback Gaston Green was named the Player Of The Game. He ran for a record 266 yards, second only at the time to Curtis Dickey who ran for 276 in the 1978 Hall of Fame Classic. This is still the Pac-10 record for most rushing yards in a bowl game, and fourth highest in NCAA bowl history.

Teams

The BYU Cougars were voted national champions in 1984. In their opening game in 1985, they faced UCLA. The Bruins won 27–24. It was the first win for the Bruins as the headed towards the Pac-10 conference championship and appearance in the 1986 Rose Bowl.

BYU Cougars

The BYU Cougars were the second place team in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). They had lost to Colorado State in October. They were still in the hunt, but a 10–3 loss to San Diego State on November 29, 1986, gave SDSU the WAC conference championship lead.

UCLA Bruins

The UCLA Bruins were tied for second in the Pacific-10 Conference. The ASU Sun Devils had beaten UCLA in Los Angeles. This gave them the tiebreaker for the Pac-10 championship. UCLA was still in the race, and could have been the Pac-10 champion, but a tie with Washington and a loss to Stanford put them behind the Sun Devils.

With Arizona State clinching the Pac-10 championship and berth in the 1987 Rose Bowl early, there began a scramble by the bowls to make deals with schools before the official date. The Fiesta Bowl and Citrus Bowl scrambling to host a #1 versus #2 showdown between Miami and Penn State, the Cotton Bowl struck an agreement to take the loser of the Michigan–Ohio State game.

Game summary

The weather was overcast and 68 degrees. The first two Freedom Bowls had only sold 31,000 tickets, but this one had an advance sale of 42,000. The attendance of 55,422 was the Freedom Bowl record. The 1992 Freedom bowl featuring USC and Fresno State was expected to surpass it, but had an attendance of 50,745.

Scoring

First quarter

BYU — Leonard Chitty, 32-yard field goal.
UCLA — Gaston Green three-yard run. Dave Franey converts.

Second quarter

No score

Third quarter

UCLA — Green, one-yard run. Franey converts.
UCLA — Franey, 49-yard field goal.
UCLA — Green, 79-yard run. Franey converts.

Fourth quarter

UCLA — Karl Dorrell, 13-yard pass from Green. Franey converts.
BYU — Bruce Hansen three-yard run. Chitty converts.

References

Bibliography

UCLA Football Media Guide (PDF Copy available at www.uclabruins.com)
BYU Bowl Games - 1986 Freedom Bowl
Robinson, Doug – 1986 Freedom Bowl: UCLA 31, BYU 10 Turbulent BYU year ends with rout to UCLA Deseret News, December 31, 1986
Penner, Mike – THE FREEDOM BOWL : UCLA'S CRAIG RUTLEDGE : You Can Go Home to Orange County. Los Angeles Times, December 25, 1986

References

(December 30, 1986). "Freedom Bowl (1986)".
PACIFIC-10 conference football media guide
NCAA Division 1 football record book
Penner, Los Angeles Times
Crowe, Jerry – COLLEGE FOOTBALL / THE BOWL GAMES No-Win Game for USC Freedom: Trojans are expected to beat Fresno State tonight at Anaheim Stadium. Los Angeles Times. December 29, 1992
[http://www.gobulldogs.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/072809aaa.html Fresno State Defeats USC, 24-7, in 1992 Freedom Bowl] {{Webarchive. link. (2014-01-12 Fresno State Sports Information Office, July 28, 2009)

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1986–87-ncaa-football-bowl-games freedom-bowl 1980s-in-anaheim,-california byu-cougars-football-bowl-games ucla-bruins-football-bowl-games 1986-in-sports-in-california december-1986-sports-events-in-the-united-states

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about 1986 Freedom Bowl — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report