The 2004 Independence Bowl was a post-season

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

between the

Iowa State Cyclones The Iowa State Cyclones are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Iowa State University, located in Ames. The university is a member of the Big 12 Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams (6 men's and 1 ...

and the

Miami RedHawks The Miami RedHawks are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Miami is a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) East Divis ...

on December 28, 2004, at

Independence Stadium Independence Stadium may also refer to: * Independence Stadium (Bakau) in Gambia * Independence Stadium (Namibia) in Windhoek * Independence Stadium (South Africa) in Mthatha, a football stadium in South Africa * Independence Stadium (Tanzania) ...

Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...

. It was the twenty-ninth time the Independence Bowl had been played and the final game of the

2004 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 28, 2004 and ended on Decem ...

for both teams. Iowa State defeated Miami 17-13.

Background

Typically the Independence Bowl featured teams from the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

and

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

, but the entire post-season bowl picture was thrown into chaos after a brawl between Clemson (

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

) and

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

(SEC) caused both teams, which had been bowl eligible, to remove themselves from consideration. With the SEC no longer able to supply enough bowl-eligible teams, Independence Bowl organizers looked elsewhere, and settled on Miami, coming off a second consecutive East Division championship in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

. Iowa State came back from a 2-10 2003 season to finish 6-5. A Big 12 team, Iowa State normally would have gone to the

Houston Bowl The Houston Bowl was an NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was played annually in Houston, Texas, from 2000 to 2005. For its first two years, the game was known as the galleryfurniture.com Bowl, named for the website of ...

, but with fellow conference members

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

headed for BCS bowls the remaining Big 12 teams received bids to better games. Iowa State accepted the bid on December 6, 2004. Iowa State previously played in the

2001 Independence Bowl The 2001 MainStay Independence Bowl, part of the 2001–02 NCAA football bowl games, 2001–02 bowl game season, took place on December 27, 2001, at Independence Stadium (United States), Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, Shreveport, L ...

, losing in the last seconds to

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

14-13.

Game summary

*Iowa State - Hicks 4 yard touchdown run (Culbertson kick) *Iowa State - Culbertson 23 yd field goal *Miami (Ohio) - Clemens 28 yard touchdown pass from Betts (Parseghian kick) *Miami (Ohio) - Smith 2 yard touchdown run (Soderquist kick blocked) *Iowa State - Kock 1 yard touchdown run (Culbertson kick) Bret Meyer threw 10-of-28 for 144 yards, but he also rushed for 122 yards on 23 carries in an MVP effort.

Statistics

References

{{Miami RedHawks bowl game navbox

Independence Bowl The Independence Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually each December at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Independence Bowl ...

Independence Bowl Iowa State Cyclones football bowl games Miami RedHawks football bowl games

December 2004 sports events in the United States