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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 winningstreak, an 8-3 overall record, a #17 national ranking and a second place finishin the Pacific-10 Conference. The Cardinal, making its first bowl appearancesince 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 14seconds of the game to secure an 18-17 victory. Stanford led 17-10 with 1:41remaining in the game when its drive stalled on the Georgia Tech 45. TheCardinal was forced to give up the ball one last time. And it proved to be onetoo many times.
Willie Clay took Aaron Mills' punt at the Georgia Tech six-yard line andraced 63 yards to the Cardinal 31-yard line, putting the Yellow Jackets inposition to win the game. Eight plays later, quarterback Shawn Jones dove intothe end zone from a yard out on a third down play to bring the Yellow Jacketswithin a point at 17-16 with just 14 seconds remaining in the game. Georgia Techthen elected to go for a two-point conversion. Running back Jimy Lincoln took apitch from Jones on an option play and walked into the end zone, putting GTahead to stay 18-17.
Stanford looked impressive in the first half. The Cardinal took its openingpossession and went 48 yards on six plays to take a 7-0 lead. ?Touchdown? TommyVardell scored on a 6-yard run to put Stanford on top early. Georgia Tech thenscored 10 straight points to take a 10-7 lead. But, 10 second quarter pointsallowed Stanford to take a 17-10 lead at the intermission. Aaron Mills convertedon 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 wasknocked out of the game with a broken collarbone and the Yellow Jackets began toshut down Stanford's attack. Before he left the game, Vardell managed to gain104 yards, score two touchdowns, and was named Stanford's Player of the Game.
Game Statistics
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 TotalGeorgia Tech 10 0 0 8 18Stanford 7 10 0 0 17Scoring Summary Quarter Time S-GTS - Vardell 6-yard run (Mills kick) 1 12:02 7-0GT - M. Smith 2-yard pass from Jones (Sisson kick) 1 9:02 7-7GT - Sisson 24-yard field goal 1 0:00 7-10S - Mills 38-yard field goal 2 9:21 10-10S - Vardell 2-yard run (Mills kick) 2 5:50 17-10GT - Jones 1-yard run (Lincoln run) 4 0:14 17-18Team Statistics Stanford Georgia TechFirst Downs 19 14Rushes-Yards 43-159 34-193Passing Yards 170 61Passes 32-16-1 30-14-1Total Offense 329 259Average Per Play 4.4 4.1Punts - Average 6-42.3 7-47.4Fumbles - Lost 2-1 3-2Penalties - Yards 6-49 6-50Punt Returns - Yards 3-37 4-82Kickoff Returns - Yards 4-83 4-114Rushing (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 3-18Passing (pa-pc-yds-hi)Stanford - Stenstrom 32-16-170-1Georgia Tech - Jones 29-14-61-1, Lincoln 1-0-0-0Receiving (rec-yds-td)Stanford - Walsh 5-61, Lasley 5-33, Vardell 3-21, Pinckney 1-29, Milburn 1-13, Baur 1-13Georgia 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 5-0-5Georgia Tech - Swilling 9-1-10, J. Williams 8-2-10, Coleman 8-1-9