The 2009

EagleBank Bowl The Military Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that has been played annually each December in the Washington metropolitan area since 2008. The game was originally held ...

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 ...

. It marked the second edition of the EagleBank Bowl, played at RFK Stadium in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

The game, in which

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 ...

of the Pacific-10 Conference defeated

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

of 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 ...

, 30–21, started at 4:30 PM US EST on Tuesday, December 29, 2009. The game was telecast 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 ...

and was organized by the DC Bowl Committee, Inc., the Washington Convention and Sports Authority, and its title sponsor.

Teams

The 2009 edition of the EagleBank Bowl was originally to match

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 ...

and the eighth team selected from the ACC. Army finished the regular season at 5–7 after failing to defeat rival

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

to become bowl eligible. Only seven teams from the ACC finished with bowl-qualifying regular season records (6–6 or better.)

Temple Owls

A number of teams were up for consideration. The matchup was originally planned to be Army vs. a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference. If Army were not bowl-eligible (at least 6–6), a team from Conference USA would have been selected as the opponent for the ACC team. All of the bowl-eligible teams from the ACC and Conference USA were selected by bowls with a higher selection priority. The Bowl was also under partnership with the MAC to select a team if neither an ACC or a C-USA team is available. Under this provision, the bowl selected the Temple Owls.

UCLA Bruins

With the 7–5 teams all selected from the

Football Bowl Subdivision 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 ...

, the 6–6 teams from other conferences are available to be selected. Notre Dame was a likely choice, but the team would not participate in a bowl following the firing of

Charlie Weis Charles Joseph Weis Sr. (born March 30, 1956) is a former American football coach. He was the head coach for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish from 2005 to 2009 and the Kansas Jayhawks from 2012 to 2014. He also served as an offensive coordinator ...

. The choice then ultimately fell to UCLA, which would take Army's spot if Army did not defeat Navy and finish 6–6. UCLA was permitted to practice for the bowl, per NCAA rules, since they were eligible to participate in a bowl. Army was required to beat Navy on Saturday, December 12, 2009, in order to qualify for the bowl. Army fell short by losing 17–3 in the Army-Navy game, thereby allowing UCLA (6–6) to play Temple (9–3).

Game summary

Temple wore their home cherry jerseys and UCLA wore their away white jerseys. UCLA rallied from a 21-10 halftime deficit to defeat Temple for their first winning season in 3 years. Temple did not score in the second half of the game after star tailback Bernard Pierce left the game with an injured shoulder. Pierce had recorded 53 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries before his early exit. UCLA

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Kevin Prince completed 16 of 31 passes for 221 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. His counterpart, Vaughn Charlton, had more interceptions (two) than completed passes (one) in the second half. Bruins

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

Akeem Ayers Akeem Christopher Ayers (born July 10, 1989) is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at UCLA and was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft. He has also played for the St. Louis Ram ...

returned an interception 2 yards for a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter and was named the game's MVP for his efforts. The temperature was 32 degrees at kickoff with the wind chill at 19, and it only got colder as the evening wore on, leading many (including Temple alumnus

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...

Bill Cosby carries the PR ball for Temple - latimes
/ref>) to assume UCLA would struggle with the conditions. The game drew 23,072 to RFK Stadium, a decline of more than 5,000 from last year's inaugural game.

Scoring summary

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2009 Eaglebank Bowl

Military Bowl Temple Owls football bowl games UCLA Bruins football bowl games

EagleBank EagleBank is a community bank headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, with assets of more than $10 billion, with operations in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. EagleBank conducts full service commercial banking through small footprint of 20 ...

December 2009 sports events in the United States