2002 Fiesta Bowl

The 2002 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, played on January 1, 2002, was the 31st edition of the Fiesta Bowl. The game was played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona between the Colorado Buffaloes (ranked #3 in the BCS) and the Oregon Ducks (ranked #4 in the BCS). Oregon was ranked #2 in both the AP Poll and Coaches Poll, leading to some controversy that Oregon should have played for the 2002 BCS National Championship.

2002 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
BCS Bowl Game
Colorado Buffaloes Oregon Ducks (10–2) (10–1) Big 12 Pac-10 16 38 Head coach:  Gary Barnett Head coach:  Mike Bellotti AP Coaches BCS 3 3 3 AP Coaches BCS 2 2 4
1 2 3 4 Total Colorado 7 0 0 9 16 Oregon 7 14 7 10 38
Date	January 1, 2002
Season	2001
Stadium	Sun Devil Stadium
Location	Tempe, Arizona
MVP	Joey Harrington, QB Steve Smith, CB
National anthem	Boston
Referee	Al Ford (SEC)
Attendance	74,118
United States TV coverage
Network	ABC
Announcers	Brent Musburger, Gary Danielson
Nielsen ratings	11.3
Fiesta Bowl  < 2001  2003 >

In the game, Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington threw for 350 yards and 4 touchdowns and led the Ducks to a 38–16 victory. Harrington was named offensive player of the game. Oregon cornerback Steve Smith had three interceptions, a Fiesta Bowl record, and was named defensive player of the game.^[1]

This was the first edition of the Fiesta Bowl to match two schools from the Western United States. Previous editions had either only one representative from the West, or none.

Colorado and Oregon became temporary conference rivals for 13 seasons when the Buffaloes joined Oregon's conference, the Pac-12 Conference (formerly the Pacific-10 Conference), in 2011.

References

1. "2002 Fiesta Bowl" (PDF). University of Oregon Football 2007 Media Guide. GoDucks.com. p. 196. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 29, 2008. Retrieved November 28, 2007.