The Houston Bowl was an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

-sanctioned

Division I-A The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

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 that was played annually in

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 ...

, from 2000 to 2005. For its first two years, the game was known as the galleryfurniture.com Bowl, named for the website of the sponsor, a Houston furniture chain operated by

Jim McIngvale James Franklin McIngvale (born February 11, 1951), also known as "Mattress Mack", is an American businessman. He is known for owning and operating the Gallery Furniture retail chain, based in Houston, Texas. Early life and education McIngval ...

, better known as "Mattress Mack". In 2002, the Houston Bowl was born and later named the EV1.net Houston Bowl, after sponsor EV1.net, for the remainder of the game's existence.

History

The bowl played in two locations during its tenure. For the 2000 and 2001 games, Houston's

Astrodome The NRG Astrodome, also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, is the world's first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas. It was financed and assisted in development by Roy Hofheinz, mayor of Houston ...

was the venue. In 2002, the game moved to

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 ...

, the home of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

. The bowl initially had tie-ins with 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 ...

and

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

. The Big 12 extended their commitment in 2002 and again in 2005. Big 12 teams played in each of the six bowls, compiling a 4–2 record. After the 2005 game, the bowl failed to return EV1.net as a sponsor. Game management was turned over to the Texans, and the NFL Network changed the game's name to the

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 ...

. While the 2006 playing of the Texas Bowl maintained continuity of having a Houston-based bowl game, NCAA records treat the Texas Bowl and Houston Bowl as separate games.http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2016/Bowls.pdf

History

Game results

MVPs

Appearances by team

Appearances by conference

References

External links