Kickoff Classic Explained

Kickoff Classic
Defunct:yes
Stadium:Giants Stadium
Location:East Rutherford, New Jersey
Years:1983 - 2002

The Kickoff Classic was a season-opening college football game played at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey from 1983 to 2002.

History

In 1978, the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA), which operated and scheduled events at Giants Stadium, decided to host an end-of-season bowl game, called the Garden State Bowl. There were four such bowl games held, but attendance was lower than hoped by the NJSEA due to December weather and less attractive teams. Consequently, NJSEA decided to host a "bowl" game in the beginning of the season instead. This would attract more popular teams and ensure better attendance due to more favorable weather conditions.

The first contest, held on August 29, 1983, was the first regular-season college football game to be played in the month of August.[1] The game featured the defending national champions Penn State Nittany Lions and the pre-season No. 1 ranked team, the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The game was not carried by any of the networks broadcasting college football at the time; instead, the rights to the game were sold into syndication by Michael Botwinik's Katz Communications, and the game aired on various local stations throughout the country. (One of these stations, Philadelphia's WKBS, signed off for good right after the game, making the inaugural Kickoff Classic the last program the station carried.)

Eventually there would be twenty Kickoff Classics, many of which were carried by ABC Sports nationally. Participation in the Kickoff Classic allowed teams to play a twelve-game regular season. Rule changes by the NCAA regarding season opening 'extra games' brought an end to the series in 2002, as well as similar games, such as the west coast-based Pigskin Classic and the midwest-based Eddie Robinson Classic.

In 2008, a new form of kickoff games were born. While not cut from the same mold, the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game held its inaugural game in Atlanta, Georgia in an effort to direct the nation's attention to one site for the start of the college football season.[2]

Game results

Date Winning Team Losing Team MVP Attendance ! Television!Announcers
August 29, 1983
  1. 1 Nebraska
44 6 QB Nebraska 71,123Katz SportsCurt Gowdy, Lee Corso and Dave Diles
August 27, 1984
  1. 10 Miami (FL)
20 18 QB Miami (FL) 51,131Katz SportsCurt Gowdy and Len Dawson
August 29, 1985
  1. 10 BYU
28 14 QB BYU 51,227Raycom SportsMerle Harmon, Bud Wilkinson and Kevin Kiley
August 27, 1986
  1. 5 Alabama
16 10LB Ohio State 68,296Raycom SportsMerle Harmon, Steve Davis and Kevin Kiley
August 30, 1987
  1. 17 Tennessee
23 22RB Tennessee 54,681ABC Sports
August 27, 1988
  1. 2 Nebraska
23 14 Steve Taylor QB Nebraska 58,172Raycom SportsPhil Stone and Dave Rowe
August 31, 1989
  1. 2 Notre Dame
36 13 QB Notre Dame 77,323Raycom SportsPhil Stone and Dave Rowe
August 31, 1990
  1. 9 USC
34 16 QB USC 57,293Raycom SportsPhil Stone and Dave Rowe
August 28, 1991
  1. 7 Penn State
34 22 QB Penn State 77,409Raycom SportsTim Brant and Dave Rowe
August 29, 1992 NC State 24 14 Terry Jordan QB NC State 46,251Raycom SportsPhil Stone and Dave Rowe
August 28, 1993
  1. 1 Florida State
42 0 LB Florida State 51,734ABC SportsKeith Jackson and Bob Griese
August 28, 1994
  1. 4 Nebraska
31 0 QB Nebraska 58,233ABC SportsKeith Jackson and Bob Griese
August 27, 1995
  1. 12 Ohio State
38 6 TB Ohio State 62,711 ABC SportsKeith Jackson and Bob Griese
August 25, 1996
  1. 11 Penn State
24 7 TB Penn State 77,716ABC SportsKeith Jackson and Bob Griese
August 24, 1997
  1. 17 Syracuse
34 0 QB Syracuse 51,185ABC SportsBrad Nessler, Gary Danielson and Dean Blevins
August 31, 1998
  1. 2 Florida State
23 14 WR Florida State 59,232ABC SportsKeith Jackson and Bob Griese
August 29, 1999
  1. 12 Miami (FL)
23 12 QB Miami (FL) 73,037ABC SportsBrent Musburger, Dan Fouts and Dean Blevins
August 27, 2000
  1. 15 USC
29 5 TB USC 78,902ABC SportsKeith Jackson, Tim Brant and Todd Harris
August 26, 2001
  1. 10 Georgia Tech
13 7 WR Georgia Tech 41,517ABC SportsBrad Nessler, Bob Griese and Lynn Swann
August 31, 2002 Notre Dame 22 0 PK Notre Dame 72,903ABC SportsBrent Musburger, Gary Danielson and Jack Arute

Rankings from AP Poll prior to game. [3]

Notes and References

  1. Two other games involving collegiate teams were played in August beforehand: on August 31, 1894, the University of Chicago defeated the "Chicago Dining Club", 4-0, but contemporary news accounts indicate that this was more of an intra-squad game, with the Maroons' opponents being hand-picked by U of C athletic director Abe Bowers. On August 25, 1944, the March Field squad (one of the military teams that played a collegiate schedule during World War II) lost to the NFL's Washington Redskins, 7-3, in front of 55,000 fans at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This makes the Kickoff Classic the first August matchup between two actual college teams.
  2. Web site: 'Kickoff' aims for college football spotlight.
  3. Web site: Football - College Poll Archive - Historical College Football and Basketball Polls and Rankings.

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