The C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl (known as the HOT Bowl for short) is the name for two annual

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

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 ...

s played in

Central Texas Central Texas is a region in the U.S. state of Texas surrounding Austin and roughly bordered by San Saba to Bryan and San Marcos to Hillsboro. Central Texas overlaps with and includes part of the Texas Hill Country and corresponds to a ph ...

. The first and older of the two HOT Bowls, which has been played since 2001, features two

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

teams from the

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

, one based in

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 ...

against an

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

opponent. After a two year hiatus, the game returned in 2021 and was staged at Texas A&M-Commerce's Memorial Stadium. From 2012 to 2018, a second HOT Bowl was played between teams at the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

level. The Division II bowl had a conference tie-in with the

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the southwestern United States, with schools in Tex ...

; the LSC's opponent was chosen at-large. This contest was one of only four bowl games in NCAA Division II, the other three being the

Mineral Water Bowl The Mineral Water Bowl is an annual American NCAA Division II college football bowl game between teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and an at large opponent hosted in Excelsior Springs, Missouri at Tiger Stadium. History ...

, the

Heritage Bowl The Heritage Bowl was a NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) bowl game held by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The bowl pitted a team from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) against a team from the Southw ...

, and the Live United Bowl before its discontinuance after 2018. Founded by

Copperas Cove High School Copperas Cove High School is a public high school located in the city of Copperas Cove, Texas, United States, and classified as a 6A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Copperas Cove Independent School District located in the southwest corner ...

football coach Jack Welch, the bowl games were originally played in Copperas Cove until 2017. After his retirement from

the district ''The District'' is an American crime drama and police procedural television series which aired on CBS from October 7, 2000, to May 1, 2004. The show followed the work and personal life of the chief of Washington, D.C.'s police department. Pre ...

Waco ISD Waco Independent School District is a public school district based in Waco, Texas ( USA). The district serves Beverly Hills and most of Waco. In 2009, the school district was rated " academically acceptable" by the Texas Education Agency ...

Stadium in

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

became the host. The acronym "C.H.A.M.P.S." stands for "Communities Helping Americans Mature, Progress and Succeed," which is a nonprofit group focusing on improving drug and alcohol abuse, bullying, mental health, and preventing teen suicide. An additional title sponsor, TIPS (The Interlocal Purchasing System), made the game known as the TIPS-CHAMPS Heart of Texas Bowl in 2018.

All-time results

NJCAA Bowl contests

NCAA Division II contests

*The 2013 game between Ouachita Baptist (AR) and Tarleton State (TX) was canceled due to severe winter weather.http://www.tarletonsports.com/news/2013/12/5/FB_1205134708.aspx?path=football 2013 HOT Bowl Cancelled *The 2018 game between Central Oklahoma and

Angelo State Angelo State University is a public university in San Angelo, Texas. It was founded in 1928 as San Angelo College. It gained university status and awarded its first baccalaureate degrees in 1967 and graduate degrees in 1969, the same year it too ...

featured a renewed former Lone Star Conference rivalry between two of NCAA Division II’s most storied football programs. Central Oklahoma made a historic 21-point comeback in the second half to win the 2018 title.

References

External links

* {{NCAA Division II bowl game navbox College football bowls Lone Star Conference football National Junior College Athletic Association