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The Liberty Bowl is an annual American 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 Subdiv ...
played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at
Philadelphia Municipal Stadium John F. Kennedy Stadium, formerly Philadelphia Municipal Stadium and Sesquicentennial Stadium. was an open-air stadium in Philadelphia that stood from 1926 to 1992. The South Philadelphia stadium was on the east side of the far southern end of ...
in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic City (New Jersey) Convention Hall in 1964. Since 1965, the game has been held at
Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium (originally named Memphis Memorial Stadium, and later Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium) is a football stadium located at the former Mid-South Fairgrounds in the Midtown area of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The s ...
in Memphis, Tennessee. Because of the scheduling of the bowl game near the end of the calendar year, no game was played during calendar years 2008 or 2015, while two games were played in calendar years 2010 and 2016. Since 2004, the game has been sponsored by Memphis-based auto parts retailer
AutoZone AutoZone, Inc. is an American retailer of aftermarket automotive parts and accessories, the largest in the United States. Founded in 1979, AutoZone has over 6,400 stores across the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil and the US Virgin Is ...
and officially known as the ''AutoZone Liberty Bowl''. Previous sponsors include
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is a pediatric treatment and research facility located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1962, it is a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit medical corporation which focuses on children's catastrophic diseases, par ...
(1993–1996) and AXA Financial (1997–2003).


History

A. F. "Bud" Dudley, a former Villanova
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 ...
, created the Liberty Bowl in Philadelphia in 1959. The game was played at Philadelphia's Municipal Stadium. It was the only cold-weather bowl game of its time, and was plagued by poor attendance. The first game was the most successful of the five held in Philadelphia, as 38,000 fans watched Penn State beat
Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...
, 7–0, in the bowl's inaugural edition. A group of
Atlantic City Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.
businessmen convinced Dudley to move his game from Philadelphia to Atlantic City's
Convention Hall Convention Hall was a convention center in Kansas City, Missouri that hosted the 1900 Democratic National Convention and 1928 Republican National Convention. It was designed by Frederick E. Hill and built at the corner of 13th and Central and cos ...
for 1964 and guaranteed Dudley $25,000. It would be the first major (University Division, now Division I) bowl game played indoors.
AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...
was still in its developmental stages and was unavailable for the game. Convention Hall was equipped with a grass surface with of burlap underneath it (as padding) on top of concrete. To keep the grass growing, artificial lighting was installed and kept on 24 hours a day. The entire process cost about $16,000.
End zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...
s were only 8 yards long, rather than the regulation 10 yards. 6,059 fans saw Utah rout West Virginia, 32–6. Dudley was paid $25,000 from Atlantic City businessmen, $60,000 from the gate, and $95,000 from television revenues, and cleared $10,000 net profit. In 1965, Dudley moved the game to Memphis, Tennessee, where it made its home at Memphis Memorial Stadium to much larger crowds; the venue was renamed as Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in December 1975. Having been played every college football season since 1959, the game has established itself as one of the oldest non-
New Year's Six The New Year's Six, sometimes abbreviated as NY6, is an unofficial but commonly used term used to describe the following NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl games: the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl ...
bowls.


Matchup

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Liberty Bowl offered an automatic invitation to the winner of the
Commander-in-Chief's Trophy The Commander-in-Chief's Trophy is awarded to each season's winner of the American college football series among the teams of the U.S. Military Academy (Army Black Knights), the U.S. Naval Academy (Navy Midshipmen), and the U.S. Air Force Ac ...
, if that team was
bowl eligible Bowl eligibility in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games. When a team achieves this state, it is described as "bowl-eligible". ...
. Due to the limited success of service academy football during this era, the only academy to appear in the Liberty Bowl as a result of this arrangement was
Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...
, which appeared in four consecutive games, 1989–1992. Beginning in 1996, the Liberty Bowl began an affiliation with the newly launched
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 ...
(C-USA), offering its champion an automatic bid. Beginning in 2005, the winner of C-USA was determined by the newly created C-USA championship game. The winner of that game was customarily offered the bowl berth from 2005 to 2013. In 1996 and 1997, the opponent for the C-USA champion was a team from the
Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...
. In 1998, the Liberty Bowl replaced the
Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has be ...
in a shared contract with the Cotton Bowl and had second choice between the WAC champion and a team from the SEC. From 1999 to 2005, the opponent for the C-USA champion was the
Mountain West The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...
champion. There were two exceptions: *2004: Mountain West champion Utah qualified for the BCS. In their place, the Liberty Bowl chose WAC champion
Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a pub ...
. *2005: Mountain West champion TCU chose to play in the
2005 Houston Bowl The 2005 EV1.net Houston Bowl was the sixth and final edition of the college football bowl games and was played at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. The game pitted the Iowa State Cyclones from the Big 12 Conference and the TCU Horned Frogs from ...
. At-large WAC team
Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...
took their place. In 1999, the Mountain West Conference did not have an outright champion, as three teams tied for the conference lead. The conference's bid for the game was given to
Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...
. The bowl's contract from 2006 until 2013 pitted the winner of the C-USA championship game against the eighth pick from the SEC. The American was to provide its fifth-place team as an alternate if the SEC could not provide a team. The SEC was also given veto power for the bowl, and elected to use it in 2011 to block C-USA champion Southern Miss from playing Vanderbilt; instead, Cincinnati got the spot and Southern Miss accepted an invitation to the
2011 Hawaii Bowl The 2011 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, the tenth edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on Christmas Eve 2011, at Aloha Stadium in Halawa, Hawaii as part of the 2011–12 NCAA Bowl season. It was telecast at 2:0 ...
instead. Since 2014, the matchup features a team from the SEC against the fourth pick 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 ...
. The Liberty Bowl is part of a six-bowl SEC pool arrangement that also involves the Duke's Mayo (formerly Belk) in odd-numbered years or the Las Vegas in even-numbered years,
Music City Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
, ReliaQuest, Gator, and Texas bowls; these bowls will choose one representative from the conference each, while the
College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...
receiving first choice (usually the Sugar Bowl in years it does not serve as a national semifinal) and the
Citrus Bowl The Citrus Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group that also organizes the Cheez-It Bowl and Florida Classic. The gam ...
second choice. The game is televised nationally 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%). The co ...
, and is carried nationwide by ESPN Radio, and internationally by ESPN International.


Recent matchups of note

The 2010 win by
UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University S ...
was the program's first-ever bowl victory. The 2011 game matched Coaches' Poll 24th-ranked Cincinnati against upstart Vanderbilt, and unlike most lower tier bowls, it aired on the broadcast network
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
rather than its cable brethren
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%). The co ...
. Cincinnati defeated Vanderbilt in a second-half comeback. The 2012 Liberty Bowl featured an unusual rematch of a regular season game between the Iowa State Cyclones (9th place in the
Big 12 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 f ...
) and the
Tulsa Golden Hurricane The Golden Hurricane are the athletic teams that represent the University of Tulsa. These teams are referred to as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (or variously as TU or Tulsa). Before adopting the name Golden Hurricane in 1922, the University of Tu ...
(C-USA champions). Iowa State had defeated Tulsa, 38–23, in the season's first weekend, however Tulsa defeated Iowa State, 31–17, in the Liberty Bowl. Though the bowl normally selects a team from the SEC, it invited Iowa State because the SEC did not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all of its contracted bowl games. In 2020, after a matchup of West Virginia and Tennessee was announced on December 20, the Tennessee program had to withdraw on December 21 due to positive COVID-19 testing.
Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
, who had accepted an invitation to the
Independence Bowl The Independence Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually each December at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Independence Bow ...
before it was cancelled due to a lack of available teams, was named as their replacement.


Game results

The first five editions (1959–1963) were played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 1964 game was played in
Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.
. All subsequent editions have been played in Memphis, Tennessee. Rankings are based on the
AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...
prior to the game being played. Source:


MVPs

The bowl has named a single MVP for each game, since inception. In nine instances, the MVP has played on the losing team, including four instances in a seven-game span during 1977–1983. The most recent MVP to play on the losing team was Kwame Ellis of Stanford in 1995. Quarterback Rob Perez of Air Force was named MVP twice, in 1990 and 1991. Source:
indicates the MVP played on the losing team


Most appearances

Updated through the December 2022 edition (64 games, 128 total appearances). ;Teams with multiple appearances December 2022 participant
;Teams with a single appearance Won (12): Baylor, Cincinnati,
Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part o ...
, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State,
Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...
, Purdue, Texas Tech, USC
Lost (16):
Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
,
Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a pub ...
,
Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifie ...
,
Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...
, Maryland, Memphis, Michigan State, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Rice, Stanford,
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
, Vanderbilt, Villanova Source:


Appearances by conference

Updated through the December 2022 edition (64 games, 128 total appearances). December 2022 participant
* Games marked with an asterisk (*) were played in January of the following calendar year. * Records reflect conference membership at the time each game was played. ** The 1965 game was contested between two SEC teams. Two independent teams have met multiple times. * Conferences that are defunct or no longer active in FBS are marked in ''italics''. ** Today's
Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divisio ...
appeared in the bowl when the conference was the Pac-8 and Pac-10. ** The American's record includes appearances of the
Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...
, as The American retains the charter of the original Big East, following its 2013 realignment. Teams representing the Big East appeared in three games, compiling a 2–1 record. * Independent appearances: Army (2020), Boston College (1983), East Carolina (1994, 1995), Georgia Tech (1972), Louisville (1993), Miami (FL) (1961, 1966), Navy (1981), Notre Dame (1983), Oregon (1960), Oregon State (1962), Penn State (1959, 1960, 1979), South Carolina (1988), Syracuse (1961), Tulane (1970, 1979), Villanova (1962), VPI (1966, 1968). ** VPI is now known as Virginia Tech. Every SEC member except Florida has played in the game. A majority of teams that are members of the Power Five conferences have appeared in the game.


Game records

Source:


Media coverage

The earliest editions of the bowl were broadcast by
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...
(1959–1963) and
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
(1964–1980). Several different networks carried the 1981 through 1989 games, including USA Network,
Katz Broadcasting Katz Broadcasting, LLC, doing business as Scripps Networks, is an American specialized digital multicasting network media company and a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. The company owns (as of 2022) nine television networks that each carry ...
, and
Raycom Raycom Media, Inc. was an American television broadcasting company based in Montgomery, Alabama. Raycom owned and/or provided services for 65 television stations and two radio stations across 44 markets in 20 states. Raycom, through its Communi ...
. Since 1990, the game has been broadcast predominantly by
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%). The co ...
, with some editions on
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
.


References


External links

* {{Bowl game navbox College football bowls Sports in Memphis, Tennessee American football in Tennessee College sports in Tennessee Recurring sporting events established in 1959 1959 establishments in Tennessee