1988 Aloha Bowl

1988 Eagle Aloha Bowl
Washington State Cougars Houston Cougars (8–3) (9–2) Pac-10 SWC 24 22 Head coach:  Dennis Erickson Head coach:  Jack Pardee AP Coaches 18 18 AP Coaches 14 14
1 2 3 4 Total Washington State 0 24 0 0 24 Houston 3 6 6 7 22
Date	December 25, 1988
Season	1988
Stadium	Aloha Stadium
Location	Honolulu, Hawaii
MVP	Victor Wood (WR, WSU)
Favorite	Houston by 4½ points [1] [2]
Referee	John Laurie (Big Eight)
Attendance	35,132
United States TV coverage
Network	ABC
Announcers	Keith Jackson, Lynn Swann
Aloha Bowl  ← 1987   1989 →

The 1988 Eagle Aloha Bowl was a college football bowl game, the fourth of seventeen in the bowl season of the 1988 NCAA Division I-A football season. The seventh edition of the Aloha Bowl, it was played on December 25 at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The game matched the #14 Houston Cougars of the Southwest Conference against the #18 Washington State Cougars of the Pacific-10 Conference. ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Underdog Washington State scored all of its points in the second quarter and forced a last-second Houston turnover in notching a 24–22 win on Christmas Day. ^{[3] [4] [5]} The bowl appearance was Washington State's second of the 1980s and was the first bowl victory for Washington State since the 1916 Rose Bowl. This was the final game for head coach Dennis Erickson at WSU; he left for the University of Miami in March. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

Washington State climbed up to sixteenth in the final AP poll, and Houston dropped to eighteenth. ^[9]

Scoring

First quarter

• Houston – Roman Anderson 27-yard field goal (13:13). 3-0 UH

Second quarter

• WSU – Victor Wood 5-yard fumble run (Jason Hanson kick). (13:39). 7-3 WSU
• WSU – Wood 15-yard pass from Timm Rosenbach (Hanson kick). (8:39). 14-3 WSU
• WSU – Hanson 33-yard field goal (6:31), 17-3 WSU
• Houston – Chuck Weatherspoon 1-yard run (kick failed), (4:56), 17-9 WSU
• WSU – Rosenbach 1-yard run (Hanson kick), (0:53), 24-9 WSU

Third quarter

• Houston – Kevin Mason 53-yard pass from David Dacus (pass failed), (4:25), 24-15 WSU

Fourth quarter

• Houston – Weatherspoon 2-yard pass from Dacus (Anderson kick), (13:16), 24-22 WSU

Source ^{[3] [4] [5]}

Statistics

Statistics	Washington State	Houston
First Downs	23	13
Rushes–yards	56–154	21–68
Passing yards	306	241
Passes (C–A–I)	19–36–1	17–40–2
Total yards	460	309
Fumbles–lost	2–1	2–1
Turnovers by	2	3
Punts–average	6–46.0	8–45.4
Penalties–yards	11–95	9–58
Time of possession	37:43	22:17

Source ^{[3] [4] [5]}

References

1. "The latest line". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. December 23, 1988. p. 20.
2. "Betting line". Reading Eagle. Pennsylvania. December 24, 1988. p. 14.
3. Bergum, Steve (December 26, 1988). "WSU wins Aloha Brawl". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. C1.
4. "Defense saves Pac-10's Cougars". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. December 26, 1988. p. 1B.
5. Grummert, Dale (December 26, 1988). "Washington State wins Aloha Bowl". Lewiston Morning Tribune. Idaho. p. 1B.
6. Bergum, Steve (March 6, 1989). "Erickson's air express off to Miami". Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. p. A1.
7. Meehan, Jim (March 6, 1988). "Erickson leaves 'dream'". Idahonian. Moscow. p. 1A.
8. "Erickson takes Miami job". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. March 6, 1989. p. 1D.
9. "It's not unanimous, but the Irish finish as No. 1". Eugene Register-Guard. Oregon. Associated Press. January 4, 1989. p. 7C.