1982 California Bowl
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| 1982 California Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 18, 1982 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1982 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Bulldog Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Fresno, California | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 30,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | Mizlou | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1982 California Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 18, 1982 at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California. The game pitted the Bowling Green Falcons and the Fresno State Bulldogs. This may be the only documented time an NCAA Division I-AA and NCAA Division I-A faced off in a bowl game.[1]
The Falcons opened their season with three straight conference wins (over Ohio, Central Michigan and Western Michigan). A loss to Miami (OH) stopped the streak, though they did beat Northern Illinois the week after. A loss to Toledo was their last conference loss as Bowling Green won the next three games over Kent State, Ball State, and Eastern Michigan. They closed their season out with losses to Long Beach State and North Carolina. Due to reclassification disagreements Bowling Green spent just this season in the NCAA Division I-AA.[1] This was Bowling Green's first Mid-American Conference title since 1965 and was Bowling Green's second ever bowl game.[2] Fresno State started the season with five straight wins (two of them being PCAA opponents), before a loss to Nevada. After that loss, the Bulldogs closed the season out with five straight wins to close out the season with 10 victories and 6 conference wins. This was their first Pacific Coast Athletic Association title since 1977. This was their first bowl appearance since the charity Mercy Bowl in 1971 along with their first true bowl appearance since 1946. The California Bowl was a bowl game played at Fresno State's at the time home stadium between the champion of the at the time known as PCAA and the champion of the MAC.[3]