1981 California Bowl
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| 1981 California Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 1st California Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 19, 1981 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1981 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Bulldog Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Fresno, California | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 15,565 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | Mizlou | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1981 California Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 19, 1981, at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California. The game pitted the Toledo Rockets and the San Jose State Spartans.
Toledo went 8–1 in conference play, with only a loss to Bowling Green State on the road being the blemish, though the Rockets finished as champions of the Mid-American Conference for the first time since 1971, which was the last time they had qualified for a bowl game. They were attempting to break their school record for most total offense (4,021), with the Rockets having 3,968 prior to the game. As for San Jose State, they went a perfect 5–0 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association to finish as champions for the first time since 1978. This was their first bowl game since the Pasadena Bowl in 1971, with the two previous bowl games being at Ratcliffe Stadium, near where Bulldog Stadium was located.