All-American Bowl
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The All-American Bowl was an annual post-season college football game played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama from 1977 to 1990. The game was known as the Hall of Fame Classic from 1977 to 1985.
In the spring of 1986, the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame decided to relocate the Hall of Fame Bowl game to Tampa beginning in December, 1986. The game in Birmingham continued for five years under a different name and organizing body. When the SEC expanded to twelve schools and began contesting a championship game in 1992, Birmingham officials chose to host the conference title game and abandoned the All-American Bowl. Ironically, the SEC championship was moved to Atlanta's Georgia Dome two years later, leaving Legion Field without any Division 1-A postseason college football until 2006, when the NCAA agreed to hold a new post-season game the Birmingham Bowl, proposed by ESPN.
Game results
Hall of Fame Classic
| Date played | Winning team | Losing team | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 22, 1977 | Maryland | 17 | Minnesota | 7 |
| December 20, 1978 | Texas A&M | 28 | Iowa State | 12 |
| December 29, 1979 | Missouri | 24 | South Carolina | 14 |
| December 27, 1980 | Arkansas | 34 | Tulane | 15 |
| December 31, 1981 | Mississippi State | 10 | Kansas | 0 |
| December 31, 1982 | Air Force | 36 | Vanderbilt | 28 |
| December 22, 1983 | West Virginia | 20 | Kentucky | 16 |
| December 29, 1984 | Kentucky | 20 | Wisconsin | 19 |
| December 31, 1985 | Georgia Tech | 17 | Michigan State | 14 |
All-American Bowl
| Date played | Winning team | Losing team | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 31, 1986 | Florida State | 27 | Indiana | 13 |
| December 22, 1987 | Virginia | 22 | Brigham Young | 16 |
| December 29, 1988 | Florida | 14 | Illinois | 10 |
| December 28, 1989 | Texas Tech | 49 | Duke | 21 |
| December 28, 1990 | North Carolina State | 31 | Southern Mississippi | 27 |
Teams
The premier college football conferences of the time - the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big Eight (now Big 12 Conference), Big Ten Conference, Southeastern Conference and Southwest Conference - all placed teams in the All-American Bowl in various years. At least one of those conferences had a team in the All-American Bowl in every year of its existence; often, two of those premier conferences met in the All-American Bowl.
All-American Bowl winners sometimes finished the season in the lower part of the AP Top Twenty poll.
Texas A&M finished #19 in the final 1978 AP poll after defeating Iowa State.
West Virginia finished #16 in the final 1983 AP poll after defeating Kentucky.
Kentucky finished #19 in the final 1984 AP poll after defeating Wisconsin.
Georgia Tech finished #19 in the final 1985 AP poll after defeating Michigan State.
Texas Tech finished #19 in the final 1989 AP poll after defeating Duke.
Trivia
The only team to appear in the All-American Bowl two years in a row was Kentucky.
Hall of Fame coach Jerry Claiborne coached three teams in the All-American Bowl: Maryland in 1977 and Kentucky in 1983 and 1984.
No team won the All-American Bowl more than once, though Kentucky had a second half lead in 1983 and won it in 1984.
The most lopsided of the games was Texas Tech 49, Duke 21 in 1989.
The closest game was Kentucky 20, Wisconsin 19 in 1984.
The Atlantic Coast Conference and the Southeastern Conference placed the most teams into the All-American Bowl: five each.
The Big Ten Conference placed teams in the All-American Bowl in four different years, yet never won the game.
Conference records in the All-American Bowl were as follows:
- Southwest Conference 3-0 (1.000)
- Atlantic Coast Conference 4-1 (.800)
- Southeastern Conference 3-2 (.600)
- Western Athletic Conference 1-1 (.500)
- Big Eight Conference 1-2 (.333)
- Big Ten Conference 0-4 (.000)
See also
External link
- [History of the All America Bowl]
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