The 2023 68 Ventures 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 23, 2023, at

Hancock Whitney Stadium Hancock Whitney Stadium is a 25,450-seat multi-purpose stadium on the campus of the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama. It is the home of the South Alabama Jaguars football program, starting with the 2020 season. The stadium replace ...

in Mobile, Alabama. The 25th annual

68 Ventures Bowl The 68 Ventures Bowl is a postseason NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game that has been played annually in Mobile, Alabama since 1999. In 2021, the game was moved from Ladd-Peebles Stadium to Hancock Whitney Stadium, on the c ...

(although the first edition played under that name) featured the Eastern Michigan Eagles from the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

(MAC) and the

South Alabama Jaguars The South Alabama Jaguars represent the University of South Alabama in NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics. USA competes in the Sun Belt Conference; it is the conference's only remaining charter member from its inception. USA's athletics t ...

from the Sun Belt Conference. The game began at approximately 7:00 p.m. CST and was aired on

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 ...

. The 68 Ventures Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. 68 Ventures—an Alabama-based company involved in

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development, investment, and construction—was the title sponsor of the game.

Teams

Consistent with conference tie-ins, the bowl featured the Eastern Michigan Eagles of the

(MAC) and the

of the Sun Belt Conference. This was the first time that Eastern Michigan and South Alabama played each other. While

is the regular-season home stadium of South Alabama, Eastern Michigan was designated the home team for the bowl.

Eastern Michigan Eagles

The Eagles entered the game with a 6–6 record (4–4 in the MAC), finishing in third place in their conference's West Division. This was Eastern Michigan's second 68 Ventures Bowl; they previously appeared in the

2021 LendingTree Bowl The 2021 LendingTree Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 18, 2021, and televised on ESPN. It was the 23rd edition of the LendingTree Bowl, and was one of the 2021–22 bowl games concluding the 2021 FBS football season. Onl ...

(when the bowl operated under a different name), which they lost.

South Alabama Jaguars

The Jaguars entered the game with a 6–6 record (4–4 in the Sun Belt), tied for second place in their conference's West Division. This was South Alabama's first 68 Ventures Bowl.

Game summary

Following the game, an altercation took place on-field between the teams prior to the trophy presentation, initiated by Eastern Michigan cornerback Korey Hernandez

sucker punch A sucker punch (American English), also known as a dog shot, coward punch, king hit or one-punch attack ( Australian and New Zealand English) or cold-cock (American English), is a punch made without warning or while the recipient is distracted ...

ing South Alabama defensive back Jamarrien Burt while the South Alabama marching band and team were singing the school's '' alma mater''. Eastern Michigan's

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches an ...

apologized the next day, stating (in part) "We strongly condemn the actions of some of the student-athletes".

Statistics

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com
Video of brawl after 68 Ventures Bowl in Mobile
via

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68 Ventures Bowl

Eastern Michigan Eagles football bowl games South Alabama Jaguars football bowl games