January 1, 1992

Syracuse 24, Ohio State 17

In repeat visits by both schools, Syracuse and Ohio State marked the only time the bowl has not had a southern team in the game.

It was the game of the "bomb." The 16th ranked Orangemen opened up a 14-0 lead in the first quarter with the help of a 50-yard TD pass and another TD setup by a 57-yard pass to Qadry Ismail. But the Buckeyes slowly scraped their way back. Tim Williams hit a 34 yard field goal before the half. Then in the third period Carlos Snow returned a kickoff 50 yards to setup an 11 play drive that was capped-off with a 2 yard Snow TD run.

Ohio State finally tied the game at 17-17 when Steve Tovar blocked a punt and Tito Paul recovered the ball in the end zone with less than 8 minutes remaining.

However, Syracuse's deep threat proved the difference in the end. The Buckeyes were stung again less than a minute later when they bit on a Marvin Graves play-action/option pass and allowed a wide open Antonio Johnson to pull down a 60-yard bomb for the winning TD.

First year coach Paul Pasqualoni was carried off the field as Syracuse collected its second Hall of Fame Bowl trophy. Graves was voted the game MVP with an 18-31-1 showing for 309 yards and 2 TDs.