Georgia and Penn State meet in the TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville on Jan. 2. As far as bowl games go, this one ranks down near the bottom when it comes to SEC vs. Big Ten showdowns.

It’s only the second time the two schools have met. The first time was for all the marbles.

In the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans following the 1982 season, the  two schools met as the top two teams in the nation. Georgia was the undisputed No. 1, and Penn State came in ranked second, despite a midseason 42-21 loss to Alabama. It was, by far, the best bowl matchup of the season back in a day when No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchups weren’t a given.

Georgia was the favorite thanks to powerful running back Herschel Walker. He was completing his third and final season at Georgia and had already rushed for more than 5,000 yards in his career. The Bulldogs won a national championship in 1980 in Walker’s freshman year and dearly wanted one more title on his watch.

But Penn State would have none of it. They kept Walker in check and built a 20-3 lead, getting a big game out of their own star running back, Curt Warner. The Bulldogs rallied late, but never got all the way back, losing 27-23.

It was Penn State’s first national title after coming so close for many years under Joe Paterno. They had unbeaten seasons in 1968, 1968 and 1973 but didn’t win mythical national titles in the polls. They came close again in 1978 and 1982, losing tight bowl games, so when 1983 rolled around, they didn’t want another opportunity to slip away.

They kept Walker in check, holding him to 103 yards. Warner had 117.

Coaching legends: Vince Dooley and Joe Paterno

The head coaches in the game were two of the sport’s icons. Dooley coached Georgia from 1964 to 1988, winning 201 games. He won six SEC titles and that one national championship in 1980. But the ’82 SEC title would be his last. He had one more good season  the following year, going 10-1-1 and finishing ranked fourth in the country, but then the Bulldogs fell on hard times. He was just 40-17-3 in his final five years and was replaced in 1988. At the time, he was the second-most-winningest coach in the SEC behind Bear Bryant.

Paterno started at Penn State in 1966 and stayed until 2011, when he was forced out from the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Paterno left with 409 wins, the most in college history. He won a second national title in 1986 and won three Big Ten titles after the Nittany Lions joined the conference in 1993.

Where are these programs now?

There hasn’t been talk of national titles around Penn State for a while. James Franklin is trying to bring the program back. He’s in his second year there after a successful stint at Vanderbilt that included a big win over Georgia in 2013. Georgia has an interim coach for this bowl game after firing Mark Richt after 15 years. Kirby Smart, the former Alabama defensive coordinator, is Georgia’s new head coach, charged with restoring the luster to the program