The 2018 Gasparilla Bowl was a college football

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 Subdivi ...

played on December 20, 2018, with kickoff scheduled for 8:00 p.m. EST. It was the 11th edition of the game originally known as the St. Petersburg Bowl and renamed before its 2017 playing as the

Gasparilla Bowl The Gasparilla Bowl is an annual NCAA-sanctioned post-season college football bowl game played in the Tampa Bay area. It was first played in 2008 as the St. Petersburg Bowl at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The game was renamed the ...

, and one of the 2018–19 bowl games concluding the 2018 FBS football season. Sponsored by lawn mower manufacturing company Bad Boy Mowers, the game was officially known as the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl. This was the first time for the bowl to be played at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida that opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football program. The s ...

in Tampa, as the prior 10 editions of the bowl were held at

Tropicana Field Tropicana Field (commonly known as the Trop) is a multi-purpose domed stadium located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The stadium has been the home of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB) since the team's inaugural sea ...

in nearby

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Teams

The game featured the

Marshall Thundering Herd The Marshall Thundering Herd is the intercollegiate athletic collection of teams that collectively represent the Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. Thundering Herd athletic teams compete in the Sun Belt Conference, which are member ...

of Conference USA (C-USA) against the

South Florida Bulls The South Florida Bulls (also known as the USF Bulls) are the athletic teams that represent the University of South Florida. USF competes in NCAA Division I and is a member of the American Athletic Conference for all sports besides sailing, ...

of the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

(AAC) in their first meeting against each other.

Marshall Thundering Herd

Marshall received and accepted a bid to the Gasparilla Bowl on December 2. The Thundering Herd entered the bowl with an 8–4 record (6–2 C-USA). The game was the team's 15th overall bowl appearance and third appearance in the Gasparilla Bowl. The Herd previously played in the 2011 edition and 2015 edition, winning against FIU and

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, respectively.

South Florida Bulls

South Florida received and accepted a bid to the Gasparilla Bowl on December 2. The Bulls entered the bowl with a 7–5 record (3–5 AAC), having lost their final five regular season games. The game was the team's 10th overall bowl appearance and second appearance in the Gasparilla Bowl. The Bulls previously played in the 2008 edition, winning against

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

Source:

References

External links

*
Box score
at

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

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Gasparilla Bowl

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