Liberty Bowl

Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, home of the Liberty Bowl since the 1965 edition

A. F. "Bud" Dudley, a former Villanova athletic director, 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, 7–0, in the bowl's inaugural edition.

A group of Atlantic City businessmen convinced Dudley to move his game from Philadelphia to Atlantic City's Convention Hall for 1964 and guaranteed Dudley $25,000.[5] It would be the first major (University Division, now Division I) bowl game played indoors. AstroTurf was still in its developmental stages and was unavailable for the game. Convention Hall was equipped with a 4-inch-thick (100 mm) grass surface with 2 inches (51 mm) 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 zones 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.[6]

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.[7] Having been played every college football season since 1959, the game has established itself as one of the oldest non-New Year's Six bowls.

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Liberty Bowl offered an automatic invitation to the winner of the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy, if that team was bowl eligible.[8] 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, which appeared in four consecutive games, 1989–1992.

Beginning in 1996, the Liberty Bowl began an affiliation with the newly launched Conference USA (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. In 1998, the Liberty Bowl replaced the Holiday Bowl 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 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.
• 2005: Mountain West champion TCU chose to play in the 2005 Houston Bowl. At-large WAC team Fresno State 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.

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 instead.[9][10]

Since 2014, the matchup features a team from the SEC against the fourth pick from the Big 12 Conference. The Liberty Bowl is part of a six-bowl SEC pool arrangement that also involves the Duke's Mayo (formerly Belk), Music City, Outback, Gator, and Texas bowls; these bowls will choose one representative from the conference each, while the College Football Playoff receiving first choice (usually the Sugar Bowl in years it does not serve as a national semifinal) and the Citrus Bowl second choice.

The game is televised nationally on ESPN, and is carried nationwide by ESPN Radio, and internationally by ESPN International.

Boise State and Louisville square off in the 2004 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee.

The first five editions (1959–1963) were played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The 1964 game was played in Atlantic City, New Jersey. All subsequent editions have been played in Memphis, Tennessee.

Rankings are based on the AP Poll prior to the game being played.

Source:[15][16]^{:69, 72}

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.

Game MVP Team Position 1959 Jay Huffman Penn State C 1960 Dick Hoak Penn State RB 1961 Dick Easterly Syracuse RB 1962 Terry Baker Oregon State QB 1963 Ode Burrell Mississippi State HB 1964 Ernest Allen Utah QB 1965 Tom Bryan Auburn FB 1966 Jimmy Cox Miami (Florida) SE 1967 Jim Donnan NC State QB 1968 Steve Hindman Ole Miss TB 1969 Bobby Anderson Colorado TB 1970 Dave Abercrombie Tulane TB 1971 Joe Ferguson Arkansas QB 1972 Jim Stevens Georgia Tech QB 1973 Stan Fritts NC State FB 1974 Randy White Maryland DT 1975 Ricky Bell USC RB 1976 Barry Krauss Alabama LB 1977 Matt Kupec North Carolina QB 1978 James Wilder Sr. Missouri RB 1979 Roch Hontas Tulane QB 1980 Mark Herrmann Purdue QB 1981 Eddie Myers Navy TB 1982 Jeremiah Castille Alabama DB 1983 Doug Flutie Boston College QB 1984 Bo Jackson Auburn RB 1985 Cody Carlson Baylor QB 1986 Jeff Francis Tennessee QB 1987 Greg Thomas Arkansas QB 1988 Dave Schnell Indiana QB 1989 Randy Baldwin Ole Miss RB

Game MVP Team Position 1990 Rob Perez Air Force QB 1991 Rob Perez Air Force QB 1992 Cassius Ware Ole Miss LB 1993 Jeff Brohm Louisville QB 1994 Johnny Johnson Illinois QB 1995 Kwame Ellis Stanford CB 1996 Malcolm Thomas Syracuse RB 1997 Sherrod Gideon Southern Miss. WR 1998 Shaun King Tulane QB 1999 Adalius Thomas Southern Miss. DE 2000 Cecil Sapp Colorado State RB 2001 Dave Ragone Louisville QB 2002 LaTarence Dunbar TCU WR 2003 Morgan Scalley Utah DB 2004 Stefan LeFors Louisville QB 2005 Paul Smith Tulsa QB 2006 Blake Mitchell South Carolina QB 2007 Derek Pegues Mississippi State FS 2009 Ventrell Jenkins Kentucky DT 2010 (Jan) Ryan Mallett Arkansas QB 2010 (Dec) Latavius Murray UCF RB 2011 Isaiah Pead Cincinnati RB 2012 Trey Watts Tulsa RB 2013 Dak Prescott Mississippi State QB 2014 Kyle Allen Texas A&M QB 2016 (Jan) Alex Collins Arkansas RB 2016 (Dec) Trenton Thompson Georgia DT 2017 Allen Lazard Iowa State WR 2018 Taylor Cornelius Oklahoma State QB 2019 Malcolm Perry Navy QB 2020 T.J. Simmons West Virginia WR

Source:[16]^:70
indicates the MVP played on the losing team

Updated through the December 2020 edition (62 games, 124 total appearances).

Teams with multiple appearances

Teams with a single appearance

Won (11): Baylor, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Kentucky, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Purdue, USC
Lost (17): Army, Boise State, Boston College, Fresno State, Kansas, Maryland, Memphis, Michigan State, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Rice, Stanford, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Villanova

Source:[16]^:71

Updated through the December 2020 edition (62 games, 124 total appearances).

• 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 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, 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. All told, 44 of the 64 current Power Five conferences' members have played in the game.

Source:[16]^:73–87

The earliest editions of the bowl were broadcast by NBC (1959–1963) and ABC (1964–1980). Several different networks carried the 1981 through 1989 games, including USA Network, Katz Broadcasting,[18] and Raycom.[19] Since 1990, the game has been broadcast predominantly by ESPN, with some editions on ABC.[20]

• Official website