The 1988 California Bowl was an American

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bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

played on December 10, 1988 at Bulldog Stadium in

Fresno, California Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

. The game pitted the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

and the

Western Michigan Broncos The Western Michigan Broncos are a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I program representing Western Michigan University (WMU) in college athletics. They compete in the Mid-American Conference in men's coll ...

Background

The Broncos started the season with a non-conference win over Wisconsin, and they promptly won the next four games (including three conference games) before a loss to Kent State. It was their only conference loss (though they did lose to independent and future MAC member Northern Illinois), closing out the season with a 23–16 win over Ohio. This was their first

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

title since

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, though it was their first non shared titled since

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

. It was also their first bowl game since

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

. Fresno State had a perfect conference record once again en route to their third

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's NCAA Division I, Division I. The conference was origina ...

title (and third California Bowl) in seven seasons.

Game summary

*Fresno State - Andre Alexander, 55 yard touchdown pass from Mark Barsotti (Loop kick) *Fresno State - Andre Alexander, 38 yard touchdown pass from Mark Barsotti (Loop kick) *Western Michigan - Robert Oliver, 31 yard touchdown pass from Tony Kimbrough (Creek kick) *Western Michigan - Robert Davis, 51 yard touchdown run (Creek kick) *Western Michigan - John Creek, 29 yard field goal *Fresno State - Darrell Rosette, 65 yard touchdown run (Loop kick) *Western Michigan - Robert Davis, 15 yard touchdown pass from Kimbrough (Creek kick) *Fresno State - Darrell Rosette, 4 yard touchdown run (Loop kick) *Fresno State - Myron Jones, 26 yard touchdown run (Loop kick) *Western Michigan - Tony Kimbrough, 6 yard touchdown run (pass failed) Darrell Rosette rushed for 149 yards as the Bulldogs scored 21 points in the third quarter to outplay the Broncos.

Aftermath

Western Michigan, despite having numerous seasons over .500 in the next few years (and two losses in the

MAC Championship Game The MAC Football Championship Game is an annual postseason college football game played to determine the champion of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). History The game has been played since 1997, when the conference was first divided into div ...

in 1999 and 2000), they were not invited to a bowl game until

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. They did not win a bowl game until

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, nor win the conference again until

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. Fresno State won the conference the following year and faced off in the California Bowl, winning once again.

References

{{Western Michigan Broncos bowl game navbox

California Bowl The California Bowl (later the California Raisin Bowl) was a post-season college football bowl game played annually at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California, from 1981 to 1991. The game featured the champions of the Big West Conference (known ...

California Bowl Fresno State Bulldogs football bowl games Western Michigan Broncos football bowl games