2018 Liberty Bowl
The 2018 Liberty Bowl was a college football bowl game between the #24 Missouri Tigers of the Southeastern Conference and the unranked Oklahoma State Cowboys of the Big 12 Conference. The 60th edition of the Liberty Bowl took place on December 31, 2018 at 2:45 p.m. EST and aired on ESPN.[5] It was one of the 2018–19 bowl games that concluded the 2018 FBS football season. Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee, hosted the game for the 54th straight year. The game was sponsored by automobile parts and accessories store AutoZone and was officially known as the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
2018 AutoZone Liberty Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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60th Liberty Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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Date | December 31, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||
Season | 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||
Stadium | Liberty Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||
Location | Memphis, Tennessee | ||||||||||||||||||
MVP | Taylor Cornelius (QB, Oklahoma State)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Favorite | Missouri by 8[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
Referee | Jerry McGinn (Big Ten) | ||||||||||||||||||
Halftime show | The Four Tops | ||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 51,587[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
Payout | US$4,295,000 [4] | ||||||||||||||||||
United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
Network | ESPN & ESPN Radio | ||||||||||||||||||
Announcers | Clay Matvick, Dan Orlovsky and Paul Carcaterra (ESPN) Dave LaMont, Ray Bentley and Alyssa Lang (ESPN Radio) | ||||||||||||||||||
The Cowboys beat the Tigers by a score of 38–33 to claim the school's first Liberty Bowl championship and their 19th bowl game overall.
Teams
The game was played between Missouri from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Oklahoma State from the Big 12 Conference.[6] The two programs had previously met 52 times, with Missouri holding a 29–23 series lead.[7] Both programs were members of the Big Eight Conference for many years, and met annually from 1960 through 1997; their most recent prior meeting had been the 2014 Cotton Bowl Classic, won by Missouri.[7]
Missouri Tigers
Missouri received and accepted a bid to the Liberty Bowl on December 2.[6] The Tigers entered their third Liberty Bowl with an 8–4 record (4–4 in conference).
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Oklahoma State received and accepted a bid to the Liberty Bowl on December 2.[6] The Cowboys entered the bowl with a 6–6 record (3–6 in conference).
Game summary
Scoring summary
Scoring summary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Statistics
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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No. 23 Tigers | 3 | 13 | 3 | 14 | 33 |
Cowboys | 7 | 7 | 21 | 3 | 38 |
Statistics | MIZ | OKST |
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First downs | 27 | 27 |
Plays–yards | 80–637 | 80–502 |
Rushes–yards | 42–264 | 35–169 |
Passing yards | 373 | 333 |
Passing: Comp–Att–Int | 23–38–0 | 27–45–2 |
Time of possession | 32:25 | 27:35 |
Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
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Missouri | Passing | Drew Lock | 23/38, 373 yds, 3 TD |
Rushing | Larry Rountree | 27 car, 204 yds, 1 TD | |
Receiving | Johnathon Johnson | 9 rec, 185 yds, 1 TD | |
Oklahoma State | Passing | Taylor Cornelius | 26/44, 336 yds, 4 TD, 2 INT |
Rushing | Chuba Hubbard | 18 car, 145 yds, 1 TD | |
Receiving | Tyron Johnson | 7 rec, 141 yds, 2 TD |
References
- @BrianBrinkleyOK (December 31, 2018). "#OkState QB Taylor Cornelius is the @AZOLibertyBowl MVP to finish his career" (Tweet). Retrieved December 31, 2018 – via Twitter.
- Fawkes, Ben (December 10, 2018). "Odds for every 2018-19 CFB bowl game". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
- @DrewHill_CA (December 31, 2018). "51,587 is the announced attendance for the Liberty Bowl" (Tweet). Retrieved December 31, 2018 – via Twitter.
- "2018 Bowl Schedule". CFP.com. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
- "2018-19 College Football Playoff and bowl schedule". ESPN. May 2, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
- "Liberty Bowl 2018, Oklahoma State vs. Missouri: Where, when, and team info". sbnation.com. December 2, 2018.
- "Missouri Tigers vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys football series games history list". winsipedia.com. Retrieved December 30, 2018.