Photo by: Steve Roberts, WKU Athletics
Before joining the Saskatchewan Roughriders, an assortment of players left people bowled over with some dazzling holiday-season performances.
Here are examples of 10 players (and others who are referenced tangentially) who starred in U.S. college bowl games before finding their way to the Green and White.
HOMER JORDAN
Jordan was the Clemson Tigers’ starting quarterback in a landmark victory — a 22-15 conquest of the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1982.
He threw a 13-yard TD pass to Perry Tuttle, a future first-round NFL draft choice and CFL standout, to help Clemson win its first national title.
Tuttle’s TD celebration was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
It was Jordan, though, who was named the game’s offensive MVP after completing 11 of 22 passes for 134 yards and adding 46 yards along the ground.
With 2½ minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Jordan scrambled for a key first down on third-and-four.
“He ran right, then to the middle of the field, dodged several tacklers, and picked up 23 yards,” Barry Magnus wrote in the Columbia Record. “The play allowed Clemson to kill most of the game clock and finished the Cornhuskers.”
Magnus also noted that Jordan needed to be helped into an elevator after the game due to heat exhaustion.
Amid considerable fanfare, the Roughriders announced the signing of Jordan on March 18, 1983.
A contract extension, calling for four years, was announced on June 14, 1985.
He spent three seasons with the Green and White before being traded to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for linebacker Gary Moten on Dec. 19, 1985.
RHETT DAWSON
Dawson caught three touchdown passes and added a two-point convert for the Florida State Seminoles in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 27, 1971.
On the day, he caught eight passes for 108 yards in a 45-38 loss to the Arizona State Sun Devils.
After spending time in the NFL with the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings, Dawson joined the Roughriders in September of 1974 and made an immediate impact — catching two TD passes from Ron Lancaster in a most auspicious CFL debut.
Dawson evoked memories of his Fiesta Bowl brilliance by collaborating with Lancaster for three scores in a 33-6 home-field victory over the B.C. Lions on Sept. 28, 1975.
Dawson entered the SaskTel Plaza of Honour in 2006.
JERRETH STERNS
Sterns went off for the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers as they posted a 59-38 victory over the Appalachian State Mountaineers in the Boca Raton Bowl on Dec. 18, 2021.
He caught 13 passes for 184 yards and three TDs and was subsequently honoured with a berth on the All-Bowl Team, as chosen by The Associated Press.
The Boca Raton Bowl explosion capped a season in which Sterns caught 150 passes for 1,902 yards and 17 TDs in 14 games.
Western Kentucky’s quarterback at the time was Bailey Zappe, who is now calling signals for the New England Patriots.
As a first-year CFLer in 2023, Sterns caught 44 passes for 449 yards and one TD in 11 games with the Roughriders.
MARTIN RUBY
Ruby played in three Cotton Bowls, suiting up for the Texas A&M Aggies (1941, 1942) and the all-military Randolph Field Ramblers (1944).
In 1942, Ruby was one of the bowl game’s four MVPs. A dominant tackle, he was among the three Cotton Bowl MVPs in 1944.
Ruby starred for the Roughriders from 1951 to 1957 en route to being enshrined in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (1974) and Plaza of Honour (1988).
GLENN DOBBS
Like Ruby, Dobbs played for the Ramblers in the Cotton Bowl of Jan. 1, 1944.
He, too, was named one of the game’s MVPs.
As a member of the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, Dobbs had played in the 1942 Sun Bowl and 1943 Sugar Bowl.
Beginning in 1951, Dobbs was a Roughriders quarterback for three seasons. He doubled as the Head Coach in 1952.
“The Dobber” later coached Tulsa in the 1964 and 1965 Bluebonnet Bowls.
Dobbs and Ruby were reunited in 1988, when they both entered the Plaza of Honour.
MARSHAY GREEN
Green took off on a 65-yard interception-return TD for the Ole Miss Rebels in a 47-34 Cotton Bowl Classic victory over the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Jan. 2, 2009.
As well, Green returned four punts for 79 yards, including a 54-yarder, on his way to being named one of the game’s MVPs.
Precisely one year later, Green returned four kickoffs for 106 yards to help Ole Miss defeat the Oklahoma State Cowboys 21-7 in the 2010 Cotton Bowl.
In both games, the victorious Offensive Co-ordinator was Kent Austin, a Grey Cup champion with the Roughriders as a quarterback (1989) and Head Coach (2007).
Green’s pick-six was at the expense of Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell, who spent most of the 2009 season on the Roughriders’ practice roster. (Harrell is now the Purdue Boilermakers’ Offensive Co-ordinator.)
Texas Tech’s leading receiver in the 2009 Cotton Bowl was Eric Morris, who caught 10 passes for 89 yards and one TD. Morris was primarily a return specialist during the four games for which he suited up for Saskatchewan in 2009.
On May 20, 2014, the Roughriders announced the signing of Green, who would dress for 12 games in both of his CFL seasons.
MICHAEL BISHOP
With the Kansas State Wildcats, Bishop played in the Fiesta Bowl (Dec. 31, 1997) and Alamo Bowl (Dec. 29, 1998).
In the Fiesta Bowl, Bishop threw for 317 yards and four TDs in addition to rushing for 73 yards in a 35-18 victory over the Syracuse Orangemen. He was named the game’s offensive player of the game.
Bishop — later a member of the 2008 Roughriders — threw three more TD passes in the Alamo Bowl, won 37-34 by Purdue.
Then-Boilermakers Head Coach Joe Tiller had been No. 1 on the Roughriders’ wish list when they were searching for a General Manager after the 1979 season.
Tiller, who was then the Calgary Stampeders’ Assistant GM, withdrew his name from the Roughriders’ list of candidates.
The team ultimately hired Jim Spavital, who had starred at fullback for Oklahoma A&M (later Oklahoma State) in a 34-0 Cotton Bowl victory over the TCU Horned Frogs on Jan. 1, 1945.
Spavital rushed for 120 yards, including a 52-yard TD sprint.
MARIO ALFORD
In the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 29, 2014, Alford caught a bubble screen from Skyler Howard and sprinted 45 yards for a West Virginia Mountaineers touchdown against the Texas A&M Aggies.
Along with catching three passes for 57 yards, Alford returned four kickoffs for 134 yards — including a 50-yarder — in a 45-37 Texas A&M victory.
The Roughriders acquired Alford from the Montreal Alouettes for a fifth-round draft choice on July 3, 2022.
After scoring four return touchdowns in 2022, he was named the CFL’s top special teams player.
He added three punt-return majors in 2023.
DARIAN DURANT
“Doubles” was behind centre for the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Peach Bowl (Dec. 31, 2001) and Continental Tire Bowl (Dec. 30, 2004).
In the Peach Bowl, Durant and quarterbacking cohort Ronald Curry guided North Carolina to a 16-10 victory over the Auburn Tigers.
Durant later threw three TD passes in the Continental Bowl, won 37-24 by the Boston College Eagles.
That was the final NCAA game for Durant, who set 51 school records at North Carolina.
A Roughrider from 2006 to 2016, Durant led the team to three Grey Cup appearances, including a landmark home-field victory on Nov. 24, 2013.
KENNY ROWE
Rowe registered three sacks, tying a Rose Bowl single-game record, for the Oregon Ducks in a 26-17 loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes on Jan. 1, 2010.
He was named the game’s defensive MVP.
Rowe played in six games with Saskatchewan over the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
