Played at night on Friday, January 2, it matched the top-ranked Miami Hurricanes and #2 Penn State Nittany Lions.

The next season, Miami had a chance to win the national title in their home stadium against #1 Nebraska in the Orange Bowl and did.

This time, there would be a matchup between Miami and Penn State, requiring a different plan as to how to resolve where the game would be taking place.

As noted above, the Fiesta Bowl had previously kicked off in the late morning (MST), early afternoon in the East.

[4] Oklahoma and Michigan began the season ranked at #1 and #2 respectively, but the Wolverines slipped to #3 behind Miami following the Hurricanes 23–15 defeat of #13 Florida on September 6.

However, Alabama lost to Penn State 23–3 on October 25, a result that jumped the Nittany Lions to the #2 spot behind Miami.

They had held the #1 ranking since handing the reigning champion (and eventual #3) Oklahoma Sooners their only loss in late September.

Also 11–0 and undefeated, the Nittany Lions had nonetheless looked rather beatable, with close wins against Cincinnati, Maryland, and Notre Dame, all teams with .500 records or worse.

However, the Lions relished their underdog status and their ability to shut teams down with a stifling, highly rated defense.

They had All-Americans at linebacker (Shane Conlan), defensive tackle (Tim Johnson), running back (D.J.

"[7] An Arizona State win over Cal, combined with a UCLA loss to Stanford, enabled the Sun Devils to clinch the Pac-10's Rose Bowl berth on November 8.

[8] This early clinching began a scramble for all the bowl games to confirm teams before the bids were to be officially extended on November 22.

Michigan's upset loss at home to Minnesota on November 15 set Miami and Penn State at #1 and #2.

[4] With Miami and Penn State the top two teams in the nation, and both independents unaffiliated with any conferences or bowl tie-ins, there was an opportunity to create a #1–2 matchup in what were widely seen as a second-tier bowls[9] By November 17, the Citrus Bowl, which had planned to pay $875,000 per team, was offering about $2.6 million apiece to Miami and Penn State to land the game; the Fiesta, which normally pays $1.1 million per, was offering around $2.4 million and was poised to go higher.

On the flight to the game the entire Miami Hurricane team changed into military-style fatigues to play into the "warfare" element of the contest.

"[10] Instead of reassigning its primary football broadcast team of Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen from its Rose Bowl telecast, NBC allowed Charlie Jones to be the play-by-play voice for his eighth consecutive Fiesta Bowl even after the contest became the national championship game.

The color commentators with Jones were Bob Griese and Jimmy Cefalo, the latter completing his first full year as a game analyst with the network.

Jim Sarni of the South Florida SunSentinel wrote that Jones "kept the telecast flowing with his controlled style" and "did not get carried away by the delirious finish," Griese "supplied the key insight" and "was able to express himself again" after working an entire football season alongside a loquacious Marv Albert and Cefalo "got better as the telecast went on" despite being "overexcited.

Miami outgained Penn State on the field, 445 yards to 162, with 22 first downs compared to the Nittany Lions' eight.

Miami's only touchdown was the result of a John Shaffer fumble that the Hurricanes recovered at the Penn State 23.

The Nittany Lions responded with their only sustained drive of the night, going 74 yards in 13 plays, culminating in Shaffer's four-yard scamper into the end zone.

With Penn State unable to move the ball, Miami began their last drive on their own 23 with 3:07 left in the game.

A fourth down completion to Brian Blades went for 31 yards and moved Miami into Penn State territory.