The 1991 Sunkist

Sunkist Growers, Incorporated

Sunkist Growers, Incorporated is a citrus grower's non-stock membership cooperative composed of 6,000 members from California and Arizona. It is headquartered in the Sherman Oaks district of Los Angeles.-History:...

 Fiesta Bowl

Fiesta Bowl

The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Frito-Lay and named with their Tostitos brand, is a United States college football bowl game played annually at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Between its origination in 1971 and 2006, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil...

, part of the 1990

1990 NCAA Division I-A football season

The 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season ended with a split championship and the ensuing controversy led to the creation of the Bowl Coalition, a precursor to the Bowl Championship Series. The title was split between the Colorado Buffaloes and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets...

 bowl game

Bowl game

In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...

 season, took place on January 1, 1991, at Sun Devil Stadium

Sun Devil Stadium

Sun Devil Stadium is an outdoor football stadium, located on the campus of Arizona State University, in Tempe, Arizona, United States. The stadium's current seating capacity is 71,706 and the playing surface is natural grass...

 in Tempe

Tempe, Arizona

Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...

, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

. The competing teams were the Alabama Crimson Tide

1990 Alabama Crimson Tide football team

The 1990 Alabama Crimson Tide football team represented the University of Alabama for the 1990 college football season. The Crimson Tide was led by first-year head coach Gene Stallings, replacing Bill Curry who left for the University of Kentucky....

, representing the Southeastern Conference

Southeastern Conference

The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

 (SEC), and the Louisville Cardinals

1990 Louisville Cardinals football team

The 1990 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team played their home games in Cardinal Stadium and were Fiesta Bowl champions.-Schedule:-Team Players in the NFL:...

, competing as a football independent. In what was the 20th anniversary of the Fiesta Bowl, Louisville won the game 34–7.

Alabama

The 1990 Alabama squad opened the season ranked No. 13 only to be upset by Southern Miss

1990 Southern Miss Golden Eagles football team

The 1990 Southern Miss Golden Eagles football team represented the University of Southern Mississippi in the 1990 NCAA college football season. Led by Brett Favre, the Golden Eagles qualified for the .-Regular season:...

 in the opening game en route to an 0–3 start. Following a victory over Auburn in the Iron Bowl

Iron Bowl

The Iron Bowl is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Alabama Crimson Tide football team of the University of Alabama and the Auburn Tigers football team of Auburn University. The series is considered one of the best and most hard-fought rivalries in all of sports...

, the Crimson Tide finished the regular season with a record of 7–4 and accepted a bid to play in the Fiesta Bowl. The appearance marked the first for Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl, and the first for Gene Stallings

Gene Stallings

Eugene Clifton Stallings, Jr. is a former American football player and coach. He played college football at Texas A&M University , where he was one of the "Junction Boys", and later served as the head coach at his alma mater from 1965 to 1971. Stallings was also the head coach of the St...

 as Alabama's head coach.

Game summary

Cardinals quarterback Browning Nagle

Browning Nagle

Browning Nagle was a quarterback for the National Football League's New York Jets, Indianapolis Colts, and Atlanta Falcons. He also played as a quarterback for the Arena Football League's Orlando Predators and Buffalo Destroyers.-Career:...

 started the scoring with a 70-yard touchdown pass to Latrell Ware to give Louisville an early 7–0 lead. Running back Ralph Dawkins scored next on a 5-yard touchdown run to increase Louisville's lead to 13–0. Nagle later threw a 37 yard touchdown pass to Anthony Cummings giving the Cards a 19–0 lead after the 2-point conversion attempt failed. Alabama's next possession resulted in a blocked punt, which Louisville recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. Another failed 2 point conversion kept the lead at 25–0, a huge lead Louisville raced to after one quarter.

In the second quarter, Louisville had the ball again, before backup quarterback Jeff Brohm

Jeff Brohm

Jeffrey Scott Brohm is an Assistant Coach and the Quarterbacks Coach for the Illinois Fighting Illini football team...

 threw an interception, that was returned 49 yards for an Alabama touchdown. The interception returned for a touchdown cut the lead to 25–7, but those would be the only points Alabama would score the entire game. Louisville's defense shut down the powerful Alabama offense.

In the third quarter, Nagle threw a 19 yard touchdown pass to Anthony Cummings to give Louisville a 32–7 lead. Louisville's last points came in the fourth quarter on a safety, when Alabama's quarterback was called for intentional grounding

Intentional grounding

In gridiron football, intentional grounding is when a quarterback throws an incomplete pass toward an area of the field where there is clearly no eligible receiver. The penalty usually results in the loss of a down as well as 10 yards...

 in the end zone.