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Cotton Bowl 1983
SMU 7 Pitt 3 |
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Pitt's impressive opening drive ended in disaster with Joe McCall (34) fumbling at the one yard line. |
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McIlhenny hit Leach with a missile to set up the games only touchdown. |
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Then, took it in himself for the winning score. |
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Marino was under pressure from the SMU defense all day. |
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Dickerson had a tremendous day, rushing for 124 yards. |
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Smith's endzone interception of Marino in the final minutes helped seal the SMU victory. |
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Attendance- 72,000 |
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This Classic offered a little bit of everything: a tremendous SMU
running game, commonly known as the Pony Express, and headlined by Eric
Dickerson, the SWC’s all-time career rusher, and stablemate Craig James.
On the other side of the field, first-year coach Foge Fazio was ready to
unleash heralded quarterback Dan Marino and a potent pro-style passing
attack. These two teams had very little in common, except for the fact
both were accustomed to winning. The Mustangs had put together their
first undefeated season since 1947, when the great Doak Walker led SMU
to a 9-0-2 record. Over the last two seasons, SMU had compiled a 20-1-1
record. Pittsburgh also owned one of the collegiate game’s best records.
In four seasons, the Panthers had rolled up 42 victories and just five
losses. Together, these two teams combined for a .906 winning
percentage. But, this year, only SMU was playing for a national
championship. The Ponies were the nation’s only unbeaten team at 10-0-1,
yet were ranked at No. 4. Pitt was 9-2-0 and ranked sixth. But, the odds
were not in the Panthers’ favor. During the whole season, Pitt had faced
the option play only 12 times, and in their pre-bowl preparation, the
Panthers spent 90 per cent of their practice time focusing in on the
option attack.
The Cotton Bowl then witnessed its first scoreless first half since the
1961 Classic, but in the third quarter, Pitt finally cracked the
scoreboard on Eric Schubert’s 43-yard field goal. Heading into the final
period, SMU trailed 3-0, but was well on its way to victory. McIlhenny
took over 80 yards away with 4:34 left in the third. Within three
minutes, he would produce the biggest play of the afternoon. Needing 21
yards on second down, McIlhenney retreated to throw, looked downfield
and hit Bobby Leach with a 42-yard strike to the Pitt 20. Three plays
later, SMU had a first down at the Panther nine. McIlhenny then
performed his slight of hand magic, faking up the middle to Dickerson,
then faked the pitch to James, and in a fraction of a second, cut back
inside and past the grasp of Pitt linebacker Yogi Jones at the four to
score standing up (
