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The Aloha Bowl
Georgia Tech 18, Stanford 17
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December 25, 1991
Attendance: 34,433
Stanford's "Now Boys" entered the Aloha Bowl with a seven-game winning streak, an 8-3 overall record, a #17 national ranking and a second place finish in the Pacific-10 Conference. The Cardinal, making its first bowl appearance since 1986, had the longest winning streak on the Farm since the 1951 season.
Stanford was making its 15th bowl appearance overall and the first since the '86 Gator Bowl. The Cardinal jumped out to first half leads of 7-0 and 17-10, but Georgia Tech scored a touchdown and two-point conversion in the last 14 seconds of the game to secure an 18-17 victory. Stanford led 17-10 with 1:41 remaining in the game when its drive stalled on the Georgia Tech 45. The Cardinal was forced to give up the ball one last time. And it proved to be one too many times.
Willie Clay took Aaron Mills' punt at the Georgia Tech six-yard line and raced 63 yards to the Cardinal 31-yard line, putting the Yellow Jackets in position to win the game. Eight plays later, quarterback Shawn Jones dove into the end zone from a yard out on a third down play to bring the Yellow Jackets within a point at 17-16 with just 14 seconds remaining in the game. Georgia Tech then elected to go for a two-point conversion. Running back Jimy Lincoln took a pitch from Jones on an option play and walked into the end zone, putting GT ahead to stay 18-17.
Stanford looked impressive in the first half. The Cardinal took its opening possession and went 48 yards on six plays to take a 7-0 lead. ?Touchdown? Tommy Vardell scored on a 6-yard run to put Stanford on top early. Georgia Tech then scored 10 straight points to take a 10-7 lead. But, 10 second quarter points allowed Stanford to take a 17-10 lead at the intermission. Aaron Mills converted on a 38-yard field goal and Vardell scored his second TD on a two-yard run.
In the second half, however, the Cardinal offense stalled. Vardell was knocked out of the game with a broken collarbone and the Yellow Jackets began to shut down Stanford's attack. Before he left the game, Vardell managed to gain 104 yards, score two touchdowns, and was named Stanford's Player of the Game.
Game Statistics
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Total
Georgia Tech 10 0 0 8 18
Stanford 7 10 0 0 17
Scoring Summary Quarter Time S-GT
S - Vardell 6-yard run (Mills kick) 1 12:02 7-0
GT - M. Smith 2-yard pass from Jones (Sisson kick) 1 9:02 7-7
GT - Sisson 24-yard field goal 1 0:00 7-10
S - Mills 38-yard field goal 2 9:21 10-10
S - Vardell 2-yard run (Mills kick) 2 5:50 17-10
GT - Jones 1-yard run (Lincoln run) 4 0:14 17-18
Team Statistics Stanford Georgia Tech
First Downs 19 14
Rushes-Yards 43-159 34-193
Passing Yards 170 61
Passes 32-16-1 30-14-1
Total Offense 329 259
Average Per Play 4.4 4.1
Punts - Average 6-42.3 7-47.4
Fumbles - Lost 2-1 3-2
Penalties - Yards 6-49 6-50
Punt Returns - Yards 3-37 4-82
Kickoff Returns - Yards 4-83 4-114
Rushing (att-yds)
Stanford - Vardell 21-104, Milburn 12-56, Lasley 5-15, Stenstrom 4-(-12), Team 1-(-9)
Georgia Tech - Jones 10-48, M. Smith 7-47, Wilkerson 7-44, Lincoln 7-41, Hendrix 3-18
Passing (pa-pc-yds-hi)
Stanford - Stenstrom 32-16-170-1
Georgia Tech - Jones 29-14-61-1, Lincoln 1-0-0-0
Receiving (rec-yds-td)
Stanford - Walsh 5-61, Lasley 5-33, Vardell 3-21, Pinckney 1-29, Milburn 1-13, Baur 1-13
Georgia Tech - Wilkerson 3-25, Lester 3-22, M. Smith 3-17-1, Covington 3-10, Rice 1-2,
Hendrix 1-(-13)
Leading Tacklers (ut-at-total)
Stanford - Albert 8-1-9, Williams 5-1-6, George 4-1-5, Gordon 5-0-5
Georgia Tech - Swilling 9-1-10, J. Williams 8-2-10, Coleman 8-1-9