FOR THE MEMORIES
Part II: 1988 College Football Tournament
By Glenn Guzzo
For the love of board games, nostalgia, and a REAL college-football playoff … Here is the remainder of the first round in the tournament using the 48 teams from Strat-O-Matic’s 1988 college football cards.
Remember (see Strat-O-Sphere for Part I), this was played solitaire, basic rules.
Last time, we revealed the heroics of Barry Sanders, the embarrassment of Andre Ware, the clutch winning drive by USC and the shock of
This second batch of a dozen games featured some future National Football League Hall of Famers and some dramatic finishes, including four upsets. For more on the fortunes of Brett Favre, Troy Aikman and others, read on.
No. 36
The most lackluster game of the tournament so far featured nearly as many punts (16) as passes (17) when two one-dimensional offenses struggled, mostly unsuccessfully, for yardage on the ground. A&M tailbacks Darren Lewis and Larry Horton combined for 138 yards on 28 carries. Horton’s 33-yard dash early in the third quarter accounted for about half of the Aggies’ only lengthy drive of the game, ending in a 1-yard TD dive by fullback Robert Wilson that was the final score of the game. Clemson QB Rodney Williams ran for 117 yards on 18 carries, including a 26-yard TD in the first quarter, but he completed only 3 of 11 passes for 56 yards. The final stats could not have been much more even. A&M had 229 yards rushing, 275 total yards, 12 first downs and four pass completions. Clemson had 224 yards rushing, 280 total yards, 12 first downs and three pass completions. Each team lost one fumble and had no interceptions.
Next up for
No. 14 UCLA – 34 No. 35 Wake
UCLA’s Troy Aikman vs. a weak pass defense. Result: A best-of-tourney 405 yards passing for UCLA. But it took an 80-yard drive against the clock and TB Eric Ball’s two-yard run off tackle with 15 seconds to play to give UCLA a victory instead of an upset defeat.
Aikman hit six bombs in the game, two of them for TDs to FL Mike Farr (7 catches, 146 yards). But none were bigger than the two long ones Aikman hit in the final, 80-yard drive.
No. 15
It’s been a while since a higher seed won handily, and
No. 33
Brett Favre vs. Jeff George. Although this one goes in the books as an upset,
Next for
No. 17 UTEP – 30 No. 32
Virginia built a 14-0 second-quarter lead on two long drives, then was helpless the rest of the way against a swarming UTEP defense that shut down the run, intercepted six of Shawn Moore’s passes and returned two of them for touchdowns. The Miners, who managed just 242 yards and 10 first downs of their own, also rode to success on the strong leg of PK Chris Jacke, who connected on field goals of 40, 49 and 38 yards, booted three extra points and had four touchbacks on kickoffs. TB John Harvey ran for 102 yards and the only UTEP offensive touchdown.
No. 18 ARMY – 26 No. 31
This matchup between two teams that run very well but pass hardly at all went in favor of mistake-free Army, which turned two
Next for Army: UTEP.
No. 19
After a tentative start for both teams,
Next for
No. 20
When
A stalwart
Next for
No. 21 GEORGIA – 35 No. 28
Tailback Tim Worley had 10 runs of 13 yards or more and ran for four short touchdowns as
The special teams made the difference, as Georgia out-gained Indiana only 442-401 and turned the ball over three times to just one for Indiana. Hoosiers Tailback Anthony Thompson and fullback Cal Miller combined for 245 yards rushing. But most of
Next for
No. 27
Result:
The efficient Wolfpack marched to 10 first downs and a 10-0 first-quarter lead that became 17-0 early in the second. Despite getting only one more first down over the next two quarters, NC State surged to a 45-7 blowout advantage.
The game turned around late in the second quarter. Rosenbach was on fire, driving the Cougars 79 yards to a score that made it 17-7 and was doing the same thing on the next possession, reaching the NC State 9. But his next pass was intercepted – and returned 103 yards for a TD. Instead of 17-14, it was 24-7. Then Rosenbach was intercepted again on the next possession, and it, too, was returned for a score, 32 yards this time. The Wolfpack had to drive only 50 yards and 8 yards to their next two scores, following two more picks. In all, NC State turned those eight interceptions into six TDs.
NC State’s
Next for NC State:
No. 26 Hawaii – 16 No. 23 Alabama – 13
Run-oriented Hawai passed for only 28 yards, but a 7-yard toss from Warren Jones to Chris Roscoe with 45 seconds remaining gave the Rainbows a startling upset victory.
The winning eight-play drive followed an
Though this was not one of
Next for
No. 24 LSU – 44 No. 25 South Carolina – 7
Like the rankings, this looked like an even matchup.
Supposedly, SC TB Harold Green and QB Todd Ellis would give the Gamecocks a balanced attack and all that LSU could handle. Hah. The Tigers drove 61 yards to a TD after the opening kickoff, then blocked a punt and converted a field goal. It was 10-0 seven minutes into the game, 17-0 at the quarter and 27-0 before
The stat sheet says
Next for LSU:
Next in this series: Winners play on — the next installment on Strat-O-Sphere will feature the 12 games of the second round:
No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 40 Baylor
No. 2
No. 3 Nebraska vs. No. 38 Pittsburgh
No. 4 Miami vs. No. 36 Texas A&M
No. 5 Auburn vs. No. 33 Illinois
No. 6 Florida State vs. No. 27 North Carolina State
No. 7 USC vs. No. 26 Hawaii
No. 8 Arkansas vs. No. 24 LSU
No. 12
No. 14 UCLA vs. No. 20 Colorado
No. 15 Syracuse vs. No. 19 Michigan
No. 17 UTEP vs. No. 18 Army
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