The 1997 Norwest

Sun Bowl The Sun Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played since 1935 in the southwestern United States at El Paso, Texas. Along with the Sugar Bowl and Orange Bowl, it is the second-oldest bowl game in the country, behind the Rose Bowl. ...

featured the Iowa Hawkeyes and the

Arizona State Sun Devils The Arizona State Sun Devils are the sport, athletic teams that represent Arizona State University. ASU has nine men's and eleven women's Varsity team, varsity teams competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Divisi ...

. After a scoreless first quarter, Arizona State scored first, with a 35-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Steve Campbell to wide receiver Lenzie Jackson to give ASU an early 7–0 lead. Kicker Robert Nycz kicked a 20-yard field goal to increase the lead to 10–0. In the third quarter, running back Michael Martin scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give ASU a 17–0 lead. In the fourth quarter, quarterback Randy Reiners threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Richard Carter.

Teams

The game was played between the Iowa Hawkeyes from the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

and the

from the Pac-10 Conference. This was the first overall meeting and first postseason meeting between the programs.

Iowa Hawkeyes

Iowa entered the game with a 7–4 record (4–4 in conference). After lofty preseason expectations, they finished tied for sixth place in the Big Ten standings. The Hawkeyes went 1–2 versus the ranked teams they faced; losing at

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

and at

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

in consecutive weeks before defeating

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

Kinnick Stadium Kinnick Stadium is a stadium located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the home stadium of the University of Iowa Iowa Hawkeyes football, Hawkeyes football team. Opened in 1929 as Iowa Stadium to replace Iowa Field, it currently holds u ...

Arizona State Sun Devils

Arizona entered the game with a 8–3 record (6–2 in conference). They finished in third place in the Pac-10 Conference standings. The Sun Devils were 3–1 against ranked opponents, defeating Miami (FL),

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

, and

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

while losing to Washington. They started their season 3–2, then won five in a row before finishing the regular season with a loss to rival Arizona.

References

External links

USA Today recap of game

Sun Bowl Arizona State Sun Devils football bowl games Iowa Hawkeyes football bowl games December 1997 sports events in the United States 1997 in sports in Texas {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub