View source for 1991 Fiesta Bowl

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox college football game
| name = 
| year_game_played           = 1991
| title_sponsor              = Sunkist
| game_name                  = Fiesta Bowl
| image = Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe Arizona.jpg
| caption = [[Sun Devil Stadium]] in [[Tempe, Arizona]], hosted the Fiesta Bowl.
| football_season            = 1990
| visitor_name_short         = Louisville 
| visitor_nickname           = Cardinals
| visitor_school             = University of Louisville
| home_name_short            = Alabama 
| home_nickname              = Crimson Tide
| home_school                = University of Alabama
| visitor_record             = 9–1–1
| visitor_conference         = Independent
| home_record                = 7–4
| home_conference            = [[Southeastern Conference|SEC]]
| visitor_coach              = [[Howard Schnellenberger]]
| home_coach                 = [[Gene Stallings]]
| visitor_rank_AP            = 18
| visitor_rank_coaches       = 16
| home_rank_AP               = 25
| home_rank_coaches          = 22
| visitor_1q                 = 25
| visitor_2q                 = 0
| visitor_3q                 = 7
| visitor_4q                 = 2
| home_1q                    = 0
| home_2q                    = 7
| home_3q                    = 0
| home_4q                    = 0
| date_game_played           = January 1
| stadium                    = [[Sun Devil Stadium]]
| city                       = [[Tempe, Arizona]]
| MVP                        = QB [[Browning Nagle]] & DB [[Ray Buchanan]]
| odds                       = Alabama by 8.5
| referee                    = Dayle Phillips ([[Atlantic Coast Conference|ACC]])
| attendance                 = 69,098
| us_network                 = [[College Football on NBC Sports|NBC]]
| us_announcers_link         = List of announcers of major college bowl games
| us_announcers              = [[Charlie Jones (sportscaster)|Charlie Jones]], [[Todd Christensen]]
| ratings                    = 6.2
|subheader=20th Fiesta Bowl}}

The '''1991 [[Sunkist Growers, Incorporated|Sunkist]] [[Fiesta Bowl]]''', part of the [[1990 NCAA Division I-A football season|1990]] [[bowl game]] season, took place on January 1, 1991, at [[Sun Devil Stadium]] in [[Tempe, Arizona|Tempe]], [[Arizona]]. The competing teams were the [[1990 Alabama Crimson Tide football team|Alabama Crimson Tide]], representing the [[Southeastern Conference]] (SEC), and the [[1990 Louisville Cardinals football team|Louisville Cardinals]], competing as a [[NCAA Division I FBS independent schools|football independent]]. In what was the 20th edition of the Fiesta Bowl, Louisville won the game 34–7.

==Teams==

===Alabama===
{{see also|1990 Alabama Crimson Tide football team}}
Under new coach [[Gene Stallings]], Alabama's secondary coach under [[Bear Bryant]] from 1958 to 1964, the 1990 Alabama squad opened the season ranked No.&nbsp;13 only to be upset by [[1990 Southern Miss Golden Eagles football team|Southern Miss]], led by quarterback [[Brett Favre]], in the opening game en route to an 0–3 start. The Crimson Tide also lost to [[1990 Florida Gators football team|Florida]] and [[1990 Georgia Bulldogs football team|Georgia]] during the skid.

The Tide recovered to win six of their next seven, losing only to [[1990 Penn State Nittany Lions football team|Penn State]] in the final meeting between the schools for 20 years. Following its 24–3 victory over [[1990 LSU Tigers football team|LSU]], Alabama accepted a bid to the Fiesta Bowl.

Alabama concluded the regular season with a victory in the [[Iron Bowl]] vs. [[1990 Auburn Tigers football team|Auburn]], giving it a final regular season record of 7–4.<ref name="December 3, 1990">{{cite news |title=Alabama's win defuses negatives in recruiting |first=Cecil |last=Hurt |newspaper=The Tuscaloosa News |page=1C |date=December 3, 1990}}</ref> The appearance marked the first for Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl.

Stallings, who was fired by the [[National Football League]]'s [[Arizona Cardinals|Phoenix Cardinals]] with five games remaining in the [[1989 NFL season|1989 season]], coached in college for the first time since leading [[Texas A&M Aggies football|Texas A&M]] in 1971.

===Louisville===
{{see also|1990 Louisville Cardinals football team}}

The Cardinals, known mostly for their basketball prowess under [[Denny Crum]], enjoyed their finest football season to date under Louisville native [[Howard Schnellenberger]], who was an assistant under Bryant with Stallings before the latter was named head coach at Texas A&M in 1965.

==Game summary==
Cardinals quarterback [[Browning Nagle]] started the scoring with a 70-yard touchdown pass to Latrell Ware to give Louisville an early 7–0 lead.<ref name="January 2, 1991">{{cite news |title=Nightmare returns; Cards stun Alabama |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QTgdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2aUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6008%2C152234 |first=Cecil |last=Hurt |newspaper=The Tuscaloosa News |page=1B |date=January 2, 1991 |access-date=January 7, 2011}}</ref> Running back Ralph Dawkins scored next on a 5-yard touchdown run to increase Louisville's lead to 13–0.<ref name="January 2, 1991"/> 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.<ref name="January 2, 1991"/> 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.<ref name="January 2, 1991"/>

In the second quarter, Louisville had the ball again, before backup quarterback [[Jeff Brohm]] 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 Alabama offense.<ref name="January 2, 1991"/>

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 (American football score)|safety]], when Alabama's quarterback was called for [[intentional grounding]] in the end zone.<ref name="January 2, 1991"/>

==Controversy==

The game was marred by the controversy surrounding Arizona voters' rejection of a state holiday in honor of slain [[civil rights movement]] leader [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], as a number of teams rejected an invitation to play in the game before Alabama agreed. Players on both teams altered their uniforms in King's memory. Louisville players wore a jersey patch reading, "The Dream Lives On" (referencing King's 1963 "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech), as well as a helmet decal representing the university's cultural diversity, while Alabama players wore black armbands with "MLK" on them. Additionally, Fiesta Bowl officials staged a halftime tribute to Dr. King.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1991-01-02-1991002083-story.html|title=Memory of King permeates Fiesta Bowl|website=Baltimore Sun}}</ref> The rejection of Dr. King by the voters of Arizona would later cause the [[National Football League]] to [[Super Bowl XXVII#Arizona's Martin Luther King Day controversy|withdraw its earlier decision]] to let Arizona host 1993's [[Super Bowl XXVII]].

{{AmFootballScoreSummaryStart|VisitorName=Louisville|HomeName=Alabama|state=expand}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry
| Quarter=1
| Time=7:35
| Team=Louisville
| DrivePlays=2
| DriveLength=73
| DriveTime=
| Type=RecTD
| Receiver=Latrell Ware
| QB=[[Browning Nagle]]
| yards=70
| kickresult=good
| Kicker=[[Klaus Wilmsmeyer]]
| Visitor=7
| Home=0
}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry
| Quarter=1
| Time=3:40
| Team=Louisville
| DrivePlays=6
| DriveLength=26
| DriveTime=
| Type=RushTD
| Runner=Ralph Dawkins
| yards=5
| kickresult=no good (blocked)
| Kicker=Klaus Wilmsmeyer
| Visitor=13
| Home=0
}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry
| Quarter=1
| Time=00:54
| Team=Louisville
| DrivePlays=6
| DriveLength=77
| DriveTime=
| Type=RecTD
| Receiver=Anthony Cummings
| QB=Browning Nagle
| yards=37
| 2pt type=pass
| 2pt result=incomplete
| Visitor=19
| Home=0
}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry
| Quarter=1
| Time=00:01
| Team=Louisville
| DrivePlays=1
| DriveLength=12
| DriveTime=
| Type=Other
| Other=[[Ray Buchanan]] recovery of a blocked punt in the end zone for a touchdown, 2-point pass failed
| Visitor=25
| Home=0
}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry
| Quarter=2
| Time=7:32
| Team=Alabama
| DrivePlays=1
| DriveLength=49
| DriveTime=
| Type=IntTD
| Def=Charles Garner
| yards=49
| kickresult=good
| Kicker=[[Philip Doyle (American football)|Philip Doyle]]
| Visitor=25
| Home=7
}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry
| Quarter=3
| Time=10:17
| Team=Louisville
| DrivePlays=5
| DriveLength=59
| DriveTime=
| Type=RecTD
| Receiver=Anthony Cummings
| QB=Browning Nagle
| yards=19
| kickresult=good
| Kicker=Ron Bell
| Visitor=32
| Home=7
}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEntry
| Quarter=4
| Time=10:16
| Team=Louisville
| DrivePlays=1
| DriveLength=5
| DriveTime=
| Type=SafetyOther
| Info=[[Safety (American football score)|Safety]] awarded after Danny Woodson was called for [[intentional grounding]] in the endzone
| Visitor=34
| Home=7
}}
{{AmFootballScoreSummaryEnd|Visitor=34|Home=7}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{1990 bowl game navbox}}
{{Fiesta Bowl navbox}}
{{Alabama Crimson Tide bowl game navbox}}
{{Louisville Cardinals bowl game navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiesta Bowl, 1991}}
[[Category:1990–91 NCAA football bowl games]]
[[Category:Fiesta Bowl|1991]]
[[Category:Alabama Crimson Tide football bowl games|1991]]
[[Category:Louisville Cardinals football bowl games|1991]]
[[Category:January 1991 sports events in the United States]]
[[Category:1991 in sports in Arizona]]