Over the past three weeks, Vanderbilt sports historian Bill Traughber has taken a look back at the Commodores previous three bowl appearances.Traughber dissected Vanderbilt's last postseason game, the 1982 Hall of Fame Bowl, in his entry earlier today on vucommodores.com.
If you don't remember the game, Vanderbilt's high-powered passing attack propelled the 'Dores to a 28-17 lead over Air Force going into the final quarter. But it wasn't meant to be as the Falcons took advantage of some late Commodore miscues to rally and defeat Vanderbilt, 36-28.
In postgame interviews, quarterback Whit Taylor (who was named the game's Most Valuable Player) reflected on the letdown:
"The loss hurts," said Taylor. "Because I get the credit for winning, and I have learned to accept the blame when we lose. The interception in the end zone, and the one in the fourth quarter leading to their winning touchdown, were just mistakes. I wish I could get them back.
"The last interception came on a special play designed for Air Force and not previously called. The receiver (Phil Roach) was clear. I just threw the ball short. It was very hard for me to accept the trophy (MVP). Right now I'm just trying to get over the hurt. We should have won. That's what we wanted."
Make sure you read Traughber's entire article by clicking here.
And if you missed his recaps of the other two bowls, then visit the following links: 1955 Gator Bowl | 1974 Peach Bowl
To this day that was the single largest gathering of people cheering for Vanderbilt that I have ever personally witnessed....had to be 40,000-50,000 cheering on the black and gold at Legion Field. An awesome memory!!
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