The 2010 Texas Bowl was the fifth edition of the

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 ...

, and was played at

Reliant Stadium NRG Stadium, formerly Reliant Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. Construction was completed in 2002, at a cost of $352 million and has a seating capacity of 72,220. It was the first NFL facility to have a retrac ...

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. The game started at 5:00 PM US CST on Wednesday, December 29,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

. The game was telecast on

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for the second time in bowl history after being televised by the

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for the first three games. The bowl matched the sixth selection from the

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 ...

, Baylor, versus the sixth selection from the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

, Illinois.

Pre-game

By December 8, three days after the announcement of the participating teams, approximately 60,000 of the stadium's 70,000 seats had been purchased; bowl officials anticipated the bowl's first-ever sellout. Baylor announced the same day that all but 400 of its 12,000-ticket allotment had been sold and that the athletics department had requested more tickets from the Texas Bowl.

Teams

Illinois

After a disappointing 7-6 season Illinois returns to a bowl game to face Baylor. Illinois boasts Mikel Leshoure who emerged as the Big Ten's best running back this season, ranking eighth nationally in rushing with 126.1 yards per game. Illinois has not won a bowl game since 1999 when they defeated

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

in the MicronPC.com Bowl. The game will also mark the Fighting Illini's first appearance in the Texas Bowl.

Baylor

Baylor enters the Texas Bowl with a 7-5 record. After a 7-2 start the Bears lost their last 3 contests. Baylor boasts 5 receivers with at least 40 catches in their high-powered offense. The Bears will be playing in their first Texas Bowl. This is their first bowl appearance since the 1994

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and the secon ...

where they lost to the high powered Washington State Cougars.

Game Summary

Scoring

Statistics

Notes

This was the second time that the two programs have met in a game. Baylor was a 34-19 winner over Illinois in their only previous meeting at Champaign, Illinois on September 25, 1976.

References

External links

Game summary
at

{{Illinois Fighting Illini bowl game navbox

Texas Bowl The Texas Bowl is an annual postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game first held in 2006 in Houston, Texas. Each edition of the bowl has been played at NRG Stadium, previously known as Reliant Stadium. The bowl replaced ...

Texas Bowl Baylor Bears football bowl games Illinois Fighting Illini football bowl games