1984 Aloha Bowl

1984 Aloha Bowl
Notre Dame Fighting Irish SMU Mustangs (7–4) (9–2) 20 27 Head coach:  Gerry Faust Head coach:  Bobby Collins AP Coaches 17 18 AP Coaches 10 10
1 2 3 4 Total Notre Dame 0 10 7 3 20 SMU 7 10 0 10 27
Date	December 29, 1984
Season	1984
Stadium	Aloha Stadium
Location	Honolulu, Hawaii
Referee	Vance Carlson (Big Eight)
Attendance	41,777
United States TV coverage
Network	TCS/Metrosports
Announcers	Harry Kalas, George Connor, and Jack Snow
Aloha Bowl  ← 1983   1985 →

The 1984 Aloha Bowl, part of the 1984 bowl game season and the third Aloha Bowl, took place on December 29, 1984, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. ^[1] The game featured the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and the SMU Mustangs of the Southwest Conference, meeting for the first time in 26 years. ^{[1] [ additional citation(s) needed ]} SMU won the game 27–20 in front of a then Aloha Bowl-record crowd of 41,777. ^{[1] [2]} This was SMU's last bowl game appearance and bowl win before the Death penalty shut the program down in 1987 as a result of a scandal.

Game summary

SMU scored on its first two offensive possessions, on a seven-yard touchdown carry by Jeff Atkins and later Don King's 12-yard pass to Cobby Morrison gave the Mustangs a 14–0 lead. Notre Dame responded with 10 unanswered points before Brandy Brownlee connected on a 47-yard field goal to give SMU a 17–10 lead at halftime.

The Fighting Irish tied the game on Mark Brooks' 11-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, but SMU regained the lead on its next possession with Brownlee's second field goal of the game. The Mustangs were able to work on the clock for most of the second half due to the strong running of Atkins and Reggie Dupard, each of whom ran for more than 100 yards in the contest. Dupard's two-yard scoring run gave SMU a 10-point lead with six minutes left in the game and the Mustangs held off a late Notre Dame rally to win, 27–20. Dupard rushed for 103 yards.

Statistics

Statistics	SMU	Notre Dame
First Downs	26	22
Yards Rushing	280	250
Yards Passing	153	144
Total offense - Yards	379	362
Punts-Average	5-41.0	4-41.5
Fumbles-Lost	4-0	0-0
Interceptions	0	0
Penalties-Yards	5-55	5-44

Rushing SMU - Atkins 17-112 Notre Dame - Pinkett 24-136

Passing SMU - King 9-17-153 Notre Dame - Beuerlein 11-23-144

Receiving SMU - Atkins 2-31, Hashaway 2-27, Morris 2-27 Notre Dame - Jefferson 2-37, Howard 2-24, Bavaro 2-16

References

1. Carvalho, Paul (December 31, 1984). "Luck, Mustangs Run Out on Irish in Aloha Bowl". Honolulu Star-Bulletin . Retrieved November 14, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
2. Lewis, Ferd (December 31, 1984). "R-E-S-P-E-C-T – That's what the Aloha Bowl means to SMU". The Honolulu Advertiser . Retrieved November 14, 2025– via Newspapers.com.