Arizona State football is returning to the Peach Bowl for the first time since 1970, nearly 20 years before ASU head coach Kenny Dillingham was even born.

And yet, a half-century later, the impact of that snowy night in Atlanta is having an impact on Valley football as ASU prepares to face Texas in a major national showcase for the program.

The Sun Devils, under head coach Frank Kush, went 10-0 and won the Western Athletic Conference, but had difficulty finding bowl game invitations as there were only two on the West Coast at the time – both in California.

ASU had a chance to prove itself nationally in Atlanta in the third annual Peach Bowl against No. 9 North Carolina, and the Sun Devils won the game 48-26 in unfamiliar conditions.

“The last time we had Frank Kush and his No. 8 Arizona State team here, it rained in the first quarter, there was sleet in the second quarter, it snowed in the third quarter and it iced in the fourth quarter,” said Gary Stokan, CEO of Peach Bowl Burns & Gambo from Arizona Sports.

“I’ll never forget Vince Dooley – the coach at Georgia at the time, his brother Bill was the head coach at North Carolina, who was Arizona State’s opponent at the old Bobby Dodd Stadium at Georgia Tech – he said, ‘I was never cold in my life.'”

Arizona State University quarterback Joe Spagnola and wide receiver JD Hill led the nation’s three-best scoring offense all season, and ASU held a 21-7 lead. After trailing 26-21 at halftime, the Sun Devils dominated the snowy second half and took the win.

Kush’s program finished the season ranked No. 6 in the nation.

There are 47 bowl games this year, and any team that hits .500 against FBS opponents will earn a spot. In 1970 there were 11, and ASU had not played in one since the 1950 Salad Bowl as a Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association team.

“You had the Arizona State fans, the people in the Valley saying, ‘Hey, it’s 80 degrees in Phoenix today, why don’t we start one of these?'” Stokan said. “Because Kush was having a hard time getting into the bigger bowls at the time, and they knew Arizona State was going to be pretty good in the future, so they started meeting with the Peach Bowl people. Between these meetings, the Fiesta Bowl was created, providing a unique connection to the Valley from the Peach Bowl.”

The wheels for a Valley Bowl game had been in motion since 1968, but under the guidance of Peach Bowl leadership, the first Fiesta Bowl began in 1971 at Sun Devil Stadium. ASU defeated Florida State to start a streak of three straight Fiesta Bowl victories.

Arizona State continued to dominate the WAC until moving to the Pac-10 in 1978, which, along with the debut of dozens of bowl games over the decades, opened the door to more postseason football.

Like the 1970 event, Arizona State will face a blue-blood opponent, Texas, on New Year’s Day at the national level. ASU entered the big stage of the Big 12 Championship by defeating Iowa State 45-19 on Dec. 7 in Dallas.

The Sun Devil players are aware of the program’s Peach Bowl history, having received first-hand accounts of Kush’s undefeated 1970 squad.

“One of the coolest moments we had this season was at our banquet a few weeks ago. The 1970 Peach Bowl team had about a dozen members, purely by chance, as we had found out that morning that we were going to the Peach Bowl,” said ASU athletic director Graham Rossini Burns & Gambo. “At that point, they were wearing their Peach Bowl watches and talking about the game almost 40 years ago.”

Arizona State will land in Atlanta on Sunday and use Georgia Tech’s facilities to practice before the big game on New Year’s Day.

“I know the Peach Bowl will roll out the red carpet along with the CFP staff, and so we’re going to hit the ground running,” Rossini said. “The advantage of having a few days is to enjoy the pageantry, enjoy the welcome reception, really enjoy the fact that we are in the CFP and then quickly get a good night’s sleep, wake up the next morning and to be focused at game time.”

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