WSU bowl rewind: 1988 Aloha Bowl
The video below, courtesy of wazzulibrary on YouTube, is not of the 1988 Aloha Bowl, but of WSU's win over Tennessee that season.
Head coach Dennis Erickson led WSU to an 8-3 record and a No. 18 ranking in the Associated Press college football bowl. The Cougars reward? An Aloha Bowl date with No. 14 Houston, coached by former Redskins and future Oilers coach Jack Pardee. Played on Christmas Day in front of 35,132 fans in Honolulu, Hawaii, the bowl game became WSU's second-ever bowl victory thanks to a number of timely plays.
Read on, after the jump.
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A Houston field goal put the Texas Cougars up 3-0 less than two minutes into the game. While that would do it for first-quarter scoring, the second quarter was all WSU. Victor Wood gave the Cougars a 7-3 lead when he scooped up a fumble and scampered five yards into the end zone, and he gave them a 14-3 lead just minutes later when he caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Timm Rosenbach. WSU tacked on a field goal before Houston scored on a one-yard run and failed to make the extra point. With less than a minute left in the half, Rosenbach ran one in himself and WSU made the kick, taking a 24-9 halftime lead.
The second quarter proved to be the only one WSU would score in, or need to. Houston scored on a 53-yard pass in the third quarter, and a two-yarder in the fourth. The Cougars from Texas appeared poised for a comeback victory when James Dixon caught a pass at the WSU five-yard line, but Tuineau Alipate knocked the ball loose and Artie Holmes recovered it for WSU.
The Cougars ran out the 2:44 of the game thanks to a key first-down pass from Rosenbach to Tim Stallworth and won, 24-22.
