Indiana Falls So Freedom Gets Florida

The Freedom Bowl lost Anthony Thompson when Indiana lost a bowl bid by losing to Purdue Saturday, but the game will have a marquee player after all in Florida’s Emmitt Smith.

Indiana needed only to beat Purdue to secure the bid, but a 15-14 loss to the 3-8 Boilermakers left the Hoosiers with a 5-6 record.

Freedom Bowl officials instead extended a bid to Florida, which will play Washington Dec. 30 at Anaheim Stadium, said Tom Starr, executive director of the Freedom Bowl.

“We had decided that we wanted a marquee name--we’re a very star-rated society where we live --with Anthony Thompson and Indiana,” Starr said. “We’re happy that we still have a marquee running back in Emmitt Smith. Smith and Thompson are both All-American backs, so we’re happy to have one of them. We wanted to get a star.”

Florida, under interim coach Gary Darnell, is 7-3 and will play fifth-ranked Florida State Saturday.

“Nothing’s been signed (with Florida), but verbally there is a commitment,” Starr said.

In trading Indiana for Florida, the Freedom Bowl traded the No. 1 rusher in the country for the third. Smith, a junior, is ranked third in Division I-A rushing with an average of 144.6 yards. Thompson leads the nation, and Cal State Fullerton’s Mike Pringle is second.

“Florida had been on our list, but we didn’t think we could get a team out of the Deep South,” Starr said. “We were fortunate.

“We wanted to match up against a California team, but UCLA, California and Stanford all had losing records, and USC is, of course, going to the Rose Bowl. So we have a regional team in Washington.”

The Huskies, who beat Colorado in the 1985 Freedom Bowl, will make their second appearance in the game. Washington will be going to its 10th bowl in the past 11 seasons and its 11th bowl in Coach Don James’ 15 years in Seattle.

Washington finished 7-4 this year, winning five of its last six games.

Florida will be making its third straight bowl appearance and the 18th in its history.

Each school will earn $500,000.

Indiana needed to win at least one of its final two games to earn the bowl bid, but instead lost both.

The Hoosiers led Purdue, 14-3, after three quarters, but let the Boilermakers come back in a game in which Thompson was held to 97 yards on 28 carries.