# California Bowl

The California Bowl (later the California Raisin Bowl) was a post-season college football bowl game played annually at Bulldog Stadium in Fresno, California, from 1981 to 1991. The game featured the champions of the Big West Conference (known prior to 1988 as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association) and the Mid-American Conference.
In 1988, the California Raisin Advisory Board purchased the naming rights to the bowl.
The game was dealt a severe blow in 1992 when Fresno State moved to the Western Athletic Conference. The MAC and Big West then moved their tie-ins to Las Vegas, Nevada and created the Las Vegas Bowl. The California Bowl made plans to hold the 1992 game without tie-ins, but was unable to find a new sponsor. When organizers came up short of a $1.75 million fundraising goal, the NCAA pulled the bowl's certification. It has never returned.

## Game results

| Date played | Winning team | Winning team | Losing team | Losing team | Notes |
| December 19, 1981 | Toledo | 27 | No. 20 San Jose State | 25 | notes |
| December 18, 1982 | Fresno State | 29 | Bowling Green | 28 | notes |
| December 17, 1983 | Northern Illinois | 20 | Cal State Fullerton | 13 | notes |
| December 15, 1984 | Toledo * | 13 | UNLV | 30 | notes |
| December 14, 1985 | No. 18 Fresno State | 51 | No. 20 Bowling Green | 7 | notes |
| December 13, 1986 | No. 19 San Jose State | 37 | Miami (OH) | 7 | notes |
| December 12, 1987 | Eastern Michigan | 30 | San Jose State | 27 | notes |
| December 10, 1988 | Fresno State | 35 | Western Michigan | 30 | notes |
| December 9, 1989 | Fresno State | 27 | Ball State | 6 | notes |
| December 8, 1990 | No. 25 San Jose State | 48 | Central Michigan | 24 | notes |
| December 14, 1991 | Bowling Green | 28 | Fresno State | 21 | notes |
* UNLV won this game, but subsequently forfeited its entire schedule due to the use of ineligible players earlier in the season.

## MVPs

| Season | MVP | Position |
| 1981 | | |
| 1982 | Jeff Tedford | QB |
| 1983 | Lou Wicks | FB |
| 1984 | | |
| 1985 | Mike Mancini | P |
| 1986 | Mike Perez | QB |
| 1986 | Andy Marlatt | |
| 1987 | Gary Patton | RB |
| 1988 | Darrell Rosette | RB |
| 1989 | Ron Cox | LB |
| 1990 | | |
| 1991 | | |

## Appearances by team

| Rank | Team | Appearances | Record | Win % |
| 1 | [[Fresno State Bulldogs football|Fresno State]] | 5 | 4–1 | .800 |
| 2 | [[San Jose State Spartans football|San Jose State]] | 4 | 2–2 | .500 |
| 3 | [[Bowling Green Falcons football|Bowling Green]] | 3 | 1–2 | .333 |
| 4 | [[Toledo Rockets football|Toledo]] | 2 | 2–0 | 1.000 |
| T5 | [[Eastern Michigan Eagles football|Eastern Michigan]] | 1 | 1–0 | 1.000 |
| T5 | [[Northern Illinois Huskies football|Northern Illinois]] | 1 | 1–0 | 1.000 |
| T5 | [[Ball State Cardinals football|Ball State]] | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |
| T5 | [[Cal State Fullerton Titans football|Cal State Fullerton]] | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |
| T5 | [[Central Michigan Chippewas football|Central Michigan]] | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |
| T5 | [[Miami RedHawks football|Miami (OH)]] | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |
| T5 | [[UNLV Rebels football|UNLV]] | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |
| T5 | [[Western Michigan Broncos football|Western Michigan]] | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |

## Appearances by conference

| Rank | Conference | Appearances | Record | Win % | # of Teams | Teams |
| T1 | Big West | 11 | 6–5 | .545 | 4 | Fresno State (4–1) San Jose State (2–2) Cal State Fullerton (0–1) UNLV (0–1) |
| T1 | MAC | 11 | 5–6 | .455 | 8 | Bowling Green (1–2) Toledo (2–0) Eastern Michigan (1–0) Northern Illinois (1–0) Ball State (0–1) Central Michigan (0–1) Miami (OH) (0–1) Western Michigan (0–1) |