Peach Bowl

In the final Peach Bowl at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Jeff Blake and East Carolina rallied from a 17-point fourth quarter deficit to defeat in-state rival, N.C. State, 37-34. Blake, who won ECU’s offensive MVP award, completed the last of his record-setting four TD passes with 1:32 remaining to give the Pirates the victory. Blake threw for 378 yards and was particularly uncanny in the final quarter, hitting on 15 of 21 passes for 148 yards on the final three scoring drives.

Jeff Blake orchestrated arguably the greatest season in Pirate football history, leading ECU to an 11-1 overall record and a final national ranking of No. 9 in 1991. As a senior, Blake finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting, and was named second-team All-America and East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) Player-of-the-Year. He passed for a school record 3,073 yards in 1991 and tossed 28 touchdowns. He was inducted into the East Carolina Hall of Fame in 2007.

After his time in Greenville, Blake spent 14 years as a quarterback in the National Football League with seven teams, passing for over 21,000 yards and 134 touchdowns and running for over 2,000 yards and 14 touchdowns. Blake was named to the Pro Bowl in 1995 after throwing for 3,822 yards and 28 touchdowns with the Cincinnati Bengals.