1978 Garden State Bowl
The 1978 Garden State Bowl, part of the 1978 bowl game season, took place on December 16, 1978, at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The competing teams were the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, which competed as a football independent, and the Arizona State Sun Devils, representing the Pacific-10 Conference. In the inaugural edition of the Garden State Bowl, Arizona State came-from-behind to defeat Rutgers 34–18.
Background
This was the seventh bowl game of the decade for Arizona State, who had finished 3rd in the Pacific-10 Conference. Rutgers began their season with a loss to #3 Penn State 20-17. They did not lose another game for two months, winning nine straight games against teams in the area. They lost their final game to Colgate at home, but the Scarlet Knights were still invited to their first ever bowl game, played in their home state of New Jersey.Game summary
- Rutgers - Dorn 47 yard touchdown run
- Rutgers - Startzell 46 yard field goal
- Arizona State - Weathers 14 yard touchdown pass from Malone
- Arizona State - Mistler 26 yard touchdown pass from Malone
- Arizona State - DeFrance 53 yard touchdown pass from Malone
- Arizona State - Malone 1 yard touchdown run
- Rutgers - Blackwell 5 yard touchdown run
- Arizona State - Malone 4 yard touchdown run