FSU Football renewing interesting history with Arizona State in Sun Bowl
By Jason Parker
FSU Football hasn’t played the Sun Devils in nearly three and a half decades – but the two teams known how to find the end zone when they meet up.
With the FSU football team back to being bowl eligible this season, the Seminoles are heading back to a game that no one remembered they could play in and they haven’t been to since the end of the 1960s – yes, the Seminoles will be eating all the Frosted Flakes they can as part of the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl (and yes, that’s the actual name of the game).
As the Seminoles look for their first win in the game after two losses – the last one coming in 1966 – the Noles are going to be taking the field inside the Sun Bowl (yes, it’s the name of the stadium too) against a team they have quite the history with…and haven’t played since the 1984 season.
FSU football will be facing off with an Arizona State Sun Devils team who comes into the game with a 7-5 record on the season – but hasn’t beaten the Seminoles on the football field since the first time the teams met nearly a half century ago.
In 1971, the teams met for the first time in the home of the Sun Devils – in a bowl game being played for the first time called the Fiesta Bowl. The Seminoles tied the game with under five minutes to go on the second touchdown pass of the game from Gary Huff to Rhett Dawson only to lose when Arizona State scored with less than a minute to go.
Eight seasons later, the Seminoles coasted in the game thanks to a 24-0 start and routed the Sun Devils 31-3. In 1983, the Noles retuned back to Tempe and nearly lost again until backup quarterback Bob Davis found wide receiver Jessie Hester with six seconds left and the Seminoles got a 29-26 win.
The next season – just over one calendar year to be exact – FSU football took a three point deficit and turned it into a 22 point lead thanks to great offense and a blocked punt from Miami native and walk-on specialist Joe Wessel in route to a 52-44 shootout win.
While the Seminoles come in with a 6-6 record and the Sun Devils are one game better at 7-5, each team has several close losses – the Noles with three by a combined 14 points and ASU with three by a combined nine points – that show this season could have gone a whole lot differently.
But, 2019 has conspired to have the teams meet for the first time in 35 years – down in the west Texas town of El Paso.