Texas Bowl
| Texas Bowl | |
|---|---|
| Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl | |
| File:Academy Texas Bowl.jpg | |
| Stadium | NRG Stadium |
| Location | Houston, Texas |
| Operated | 2006–present |
| Conference tie-ins | Big 12, SEC |
| Previous conference tie-ins | |
| Payout | US$3 million per team (as of 2015)[1] |
| Preceded by | Houston Bowl |
| Sponsors | |
| |
| Former names | |
| |
| 2017 matchup | |
| Missouri vs Texas (Texas 33–16) | |
| 2018 matchup | |
| Teams TBD (December 27, 2018) | |
The Texas Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I FBS college football bowl game first held in 2006 in Houston, Texas. The bowl replaced the defunct Houston Bowl, which played annually from 2000 to 2005, and before that the Bluebonnet Bowl, the first bowl game in Houston, played from 1959 through 1987.
Since 2017, the game has been sponsored by Academy Sports + Outdoors and officially known as the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl. The game was previous the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl from 2014 to 2016, with AdvoCare as the title sponsor. From 2011 to 2012, the game was sponsored by Meineke Car Care and officially known as the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas.
History
Replacing the Houston Bowl
Speculation surfaced questioning the long-term survival of the former Houston Bowl. The three-year contract with EV1.net expired on December 31, 2005, leaving the bowl game without a title sponsor. A college football official told the Houston Chronicle that the bowl was in danger of ceasing operations, as a result of the game losing its title sponsor and because the Houston Bowl still owed roughly $600,000 to the Big 12 and Mountain West conferences following the 2005 game.[2] However, the NCAA approved Lone Star Sports & Entertainment, a division of the Houston Texans, who also play in Reliant Stadium, to take over game management. In July 2006, the NFL Network acquired TV rights and naming rights to the bowl.[3]
Texas Bowl introduction
The Texas Bowl name and logo were officially unveiled on August 10, 2006, at a press conference along with conference affiliations for the bowl spots. The Big 12, Big East and Conference USA will be affiliated with the game, as well as Texas Christian University of the Mountain West. The 2006 matchup featured teams from the Big 12 and Big East Conferences.[4]
On December 3, 2006, Rutgers accepted an invitation to play Kansas State in the inaugural Texas Bowl. "We're ecstatic about having Rutgers," Texas Bowl director David Brady said. "This is a top-15 team that was three yards away from a BCS game. We couldn't be happier to have them here."[5]
2010 marked the eleventh consecutive year a bowl game has played in Houston, and the 40th year overall with a bowl game there (the Bluebonnet Bowl lasted 29 years). It was also announced on December 30, 2009, that ESPN Plus would take over as part owner and operator of the game, while Lone Star Sports and Entertainment will maintain a stake in the bowl, and would be carried on ESPN.
Sponsors
On April 12, 2011, ESPN announced Meineke Car Care signed a three-year title sponsorship deal beginning in 2011, changing name of the bowl to the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas.[6]
On February 12, 2014, it was announced that AdvoCare will be the title sponsor for the bowl game.[7] That sponsorship concluded after the 2016 game.
On November 15, 2017, Academy Sports + Outdoors became the new title sponsor of the bowl.[8]
Conference tie-ins
On May 17, 2007, it was announced Conference USA would have a team in the 2007 Texas Bowl. The Texas Bowl has a rotating commitment with the Big East Conference and Conference USA for 2006–09 while the Big 12 Conference will have a team in all four of those games. In 2007, TCU took the place of the Big 12 team when Kansas and Oklahoma were put into the BCS, and Houston, a "home team," represented C-USA. The conferences would receive $612,500 each as per the rules of the agreements as usually, the Big East (or Big 12) would have received $750,000 for playing and C-USA would have received a $500,000 stipend for their team playing.
Issues
According to Sports Illustrated, in 2008 the bowl required Western Michigan University to purchase 11,000 tickets at full price in order to accept the invitation to play in the bowl. The university was only able to sell 548 tickets at that price, forcing it to accept a $462,535 loss, before travel expenses, to pay for the privilege of playing in the bowl.[9]
Game results
| Season | Date | Time (CST) | Teams | Attendance | TV | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | December 28 | 7:00 PM | No. 16 Rutgers | 37 | Kansas State | 10 | 52,210 | NFL Network |
| 2007 | December 28 | 7:00 PM | TCU | 20 | Houston | 13 | 62,097 | |
| 2008 | December 30 | 7:00 PM | Rice | 38 | Western Michigan | 14 | 58,880 | |
| 2009 | December 31 | 2:30 PM | Navy | 35 | Missouri | 13 | 69,441 | ESPN |
| 2010 | December 29 | 5:00 PM | Illinois | 38 | Baylor | 14 | 68,211 | |
| 2011 | December 31 | 11:00 AM | Texas A&M | 33 | Northwestern | 22 | 68,395 | |
| 2012 | December 28 | 8:00 PM | Texas Tech | 34 | Minnesota | 31 | 50,386 | |
| 2013 | December 27 | 5:00 PM | Syracuse | 21 | Minnesota | 17 | 32,327 | |
| 2014 | December 29 | 8:00 PM | Arkansas | 31 | Texas | 7 | 71,115 | |
| 2015 | December 29 | 8:00 PM | LSU | 56 | Texas Tech | 27 | 71,307 | |
| 2016 | December 28 | 8:00 PM | Kansas State | 33 | Texas A&M | 28 | 68,412 | |
| 2017 | December 27 | 8:00 PM | Texas | 33 | Missouri | 16 | 67,820 | |
MVPs
| Year | MVP | Team | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Ray Rice | Rutgers | RB |
| 2007 | Andy Dalton | TCU | QB |
| 2008 | Chase Clement | Rice | QB |
| 2009 | Ricky Dobbs | Navy | QB |
| 2010 | Mikel Leshoure | Illinois | RB |
| 2011 | Ryan Tannehill | Texas A&M | QB |
| 2012 | Seth Doege | Texas Tech | QB |
| 2013 | Terrel Hunt | Syracuse | QB |
| 2014 | Brandon Allen | Arkansas | QB |
| 2015 | Leonard Fournette | LSU | RB |
| 2016 | Jesse Ertz | Kansas State | QB |
| 2017 | Michael Dickson | Texas | P |
Most appearances
- Teams with multiple appearances
| Rank | Team | Appearances | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Kansas State | 2 | 1–1 |
| T1 | Texas | 2 | 1–1 |
| T1 | Texas A&M | 2 | 1–1 |
| T1 | Texas Tech | 2 | 1–1 |
| T1 | Minnesota | 2 | 0–2 |
| T1 | Missouri | 2 | 0–2 |
- Teams with a single appearance
Won: Arkansas, Illinois, LSU, Navy, Rice, Rutgers, Syracuse, TCU
Lost: Baylor, Houston, Northwestern, Western Michigan
Appearances by conference
Through the December 2017 playing, there have been 12 games (24 total appearances).
| Rank | Conference | Appearances | Wins | Losses | Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Big 12 | 9 | 4 | 5 | .444 |
| T2 | SEC | 4 | 2 | 2 | .500 |
| T2 | Big Ten | 4 | 1 | 3 | .250 |
| 4 | C-USA | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 |
| T5 | ACC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| T5 | Big East[n 1] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| T5 | Independents[n 2] | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| T5 | Mountain West | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 |
| T5 | MAC | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 |
- ^ Rutgers (2006) appeared as a member of the Big East. Following the 2013 split of the original Big East along football lines, the FBS schools reorganized as the new American Athletic Conference, which retains the charter of the original Big East.
- ^ Navy (2009)
See also
References
- ^ "College Bowl Game Payouts". statisticbrain.com. 2015.
- ^ Duarte, Joseph (18 April 2006). "Houston Bowl in jeopardy". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ^ "NFL Network gets bowl game in Houston". NFL.com. 20 July 2006. Archived from the original on 23 August 2006.
- ^ Chavez, Ana (29 August 2006). "Texas Bowl Board of Directors announced". houstontexans.com (Press release).
- ^ Duarte, Joseph (3 December 2006). "Rutgers to play in inaugural Texas Bowl". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
- ^ Rittenberg, Adam (12 April 2011). "Texas Bowl gains new title sponsor". ESPN.com.
- ^ Cook, Kara (11 February 2014). "Advocare, LSSE excited for Texas Bowl partnership". houstontexans.com.
- ^ "ACADEMY SPORTS + OUTDOORS NAMED THE NEW TITLE SPONSOR OF THE TEXAS BOWL". academytexasbowl.com (Press release). November 15, 2017.
- ^ Murphy, Austin; Wetzel, Dan (15 November 2010). "Does It Matter?". Sports Illustrated. p. 47.