What does this even mean?
Elway never even led Stanford to a bowl game.
Give me a break. You might get away with that if I'm not here. You can't come close to getting away with that if I'm here.
That was my era. I was there. I saw Elway play in person in football and basketball multiple times. UCLA played in the Coliseum until 1982 so I attended a Stanford/UCLA game in the Coliseum along with every game Elway faced USC...home or road.
Those were outmanned Stanford teams. The play design was destroyed time and again with Elway forced to circle backward and improvise. The remarkable throws he managed during those plays became part of his legend, including one versus USC at Palo Alto late in the 1980 season.
How many college quarterbacks have defeated both Oklahoma and Ohio State on the road? John Elway accomplished that, and as double digit underdog in both games. Switzer threw up his arms in resignation. It was a miserable wet day that stymied his lateral offense. Meanwhile John Elway stood back there and picked the #4 Sooner apart. It wasn't even a close game. Stanford covered the spread in reverse.
Both Ohio State games were tight. Elway faced them home and road. That era featured a ton of great intersectional games, as you'll remember. Ohio State won the meeting at Palo Alto but Elway had another legendary deep throw to pull out the game in Columbus. Those weren't awesome Buckeyes teams but roughly in the 10th ranked range. Certainly far above Stanford, which was always mid level Pac 10 during those years.
The bowl eligibility standards were different in those days. That's why it's unfair to assert he never led them to a bowl. Younger fans are going to look at it under current scope, and not early '80s with less than half as many bowls.
Stanford's 6-5 in 1980 would have been perfectly fine to qualify for a bowl today. That 1980 team was Stanford's best team under Elway but it fell apart late in the season due to injuries and lack of depth. I distinctly remember that being the theme when we traveled up to that game as the annual Bay Area Weekender. USC alternates playing Cal or Stanford on the road each year. It is a huge party. Seemingly half the USC student body makes the trip, mostly to get drunk on Friday night at Union Square. Nobody was scared of Stanford that season because their team already falling apart physically, even though they had routed a miserable Oregon State team the prior week.
Besides, that 1980 game at Stanford was payback for the devastating 21-21 tie at the Coliseum a year earlier, a game that ruined USC's title hopes. Nobody stopped talking about that game during my remaining years at USC. It was easily the most shocking and inexplicable result, with the greatest consequences. Elway was a freshman but he split time with senior Turk Schonert. It was Schonert who led the Cardinal rally to the 21-21 tie.
I still can't believe that result, even after 40 years. It was homecoming. USC was #1 ranked and 22 point favorite. Nobody was worried at all. It got to 21-0 in a hurry. Then every conceivable mistake. Both teams blew winning field goal opportunities in the final minute.
As I'm sure you remember, that result opened the door for Alabama. They rose to #1 and eventually won the national title, actually aided by USC's late 1-point Rose Bowl win over then-#1 Ohio State.
