The 2009

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 ...

was the fourth edition of the 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 ...

, and was played at

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 ...

in Houston, Texas. The game started at 2:30 PM US CST on Thursday, December 31, 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 ...

for the first time in bowl history after being televised by the

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NF ...

for the first three games. The Texas Bowl matched 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 ...

sixth-place

Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the Fighting Tigers of Columbia who, in 1864, protected Columbia fro ...

against independent Navy Midshipmen. Navy defeated Missouri 35–13. This was the first time that either team appeared in the Texas Bowl. It was the seventh year in a row that Navy appeared in a bowl game, and a team record fifth year in a row that Missouri made a post-season appearance. Missouri came off two straight bowl wins while Navy had lost three bowl games in a row. The game marked the third time that the two teams had played each other and the second time they had met in a bowl game. Prior to the 2009 Texas Bowl, Missouri held a 2–0 advantage with a 35–14 victory in 1948 and a 21–14 win in

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

Game summary

Navy wore their navy blue home jerseys with white and red trimmed shoulders, Missouri wore their white away jerseys. Missouri struck first with a 58-yard touchdown pass to Danario Alexander, but that would be the best part of the day for Missouri. Despite a fumble by Navy, the Midshipmen defense shut Missouri down, and gave the ball back to Navy QB

Ricky Dobbs Ricky Dobbs Jr. (born January 31, 1988) is a United States Navy officer, politician and former college football quarterback for the United States Naval Academy currently serving as the District 1 Douglas County, Georgia Commissioner. During the 2 ...

, who atoned for his fumble on the previous drive with a one-yard TD rush, his 25th of the season. Dobbs would fumble again in the

endzone 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. ...

, resulting in Missouri having a chance to take the lead before halftime, but Missouri fumbled on the next play, and Dobbs atoned for his fumble once more with a touchdown. Missouri cut it to 14–10 for halftime, but they would not draw any closer. Navy dominated the rest of the game. After halftime, Navy took a 21–10 lead on a Dobbs pass to Bobby Doyle. Missouri QB

Blaine Gabbert Blaine Williamson Gabbert (born October 15, 1989) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Missouri before leaving early for the 2011 NFL Draft after hi ...

then threw an

interception In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team ...

, and Navy didn't look back. Navy ate up most of the 3rd quarter before a 4th down stop. However, Missouri could only amass a field goal out of a 95-yard drive. Navy won by a final count of 35–13. Ricky Dobbs took

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

honors.

Scoring

Marcus Curry scores TD at 2009 Texas Bowl

Statistics

Source:

References

External links

Game summary
at

{{Navy Midshipmen bowl game navbox

Texas Bowl Navy Midshipmen football bowl games Missouri Tigers football bowl games