2015 Liberty Bowl, Kansas State vs. Arkansas: Date, time, location and more

The AutoZone Liberty Bowl is set for its 57th game, featuring another matchup of the SEC and Big 12.

Originally named the Liberty Bowl when it was created in 1959 because it was played in Philadelphia, where it was the only cold-weather bowl game of its time, the game moved to Atlanta City, N.J. in 1964 and found a permanent home in Memphis, Tenn. in 1965.

The Liberty Bowl previously had tie-ins with the winner of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy, Conference USA and Mountain West in its history, but began featuring duels between the SEC and Big 12 in 2014. The first matchup of the two conferences featured plenty of scoring, with the Texas A&M Aggies edging West Virginia, 45-37.

Here is everything you need to know to get ready for this year’s AutoZone Liberty Bowl:

Date and time: Sat., Jan. 2, 3:20 p.m. ET

TV channel: ESPN

Location: Memphis, Tenn.

Stadium: Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, 59,308

Last year’s score: Texas A&M 45, West Virginia 37

Last year’s attendance: 51,282

Last year’s TV rating: 2.2

Last year’s payout for each school: $1.438 million

Team with the most all-time appearances: Seven teams, 4

Team with the most all-time wins: Mississippi, 4

Kansas State took advantage of a weak schedule to get to five wins in 2015. With FBS postseason games multiplying like rabbits, that was enough to send Bill Snyder to his 17th bowl game as head coach of the Wildcats.

K-State’s wins won’t impress many people. A six-point victory over Louisiana Tech is their only triumph over a bowl eligible team this season. The other three FBS programs they’ve beaten went a combined 6-30 this year. Even their FCS matchup was against a cupcake team -- 5-6 South Dakota. This makes perfect sense when you consider that we’re only two years removed from an early season Manhattan loss to FCS champion North Dakota State.

The team’s ineffective defense has been their Achilles’ heel in 2015. They’ve held only two Big 12 opponents to fewer than 31 points in a game -- and one was Kansas, so that barely counts. Texas Tech, TCU and Oklahoma all scored more than 50 points against the Wildcats.

That’s a huge obstacle for a decent, but never great offense to overcome. KSU’s most accurate passer is Glenn Gronkowski. a fullback who has completed one of his two trick play passes but nonetheless is connecting at a greater clip than starting quarterback Joe Hubener. Hubener is completing less than 49 percent of his passes and has been held to fewer than 100 passing yards in four contests this year. He’s been spelled by Kody Cook, who hasn’t been much better. Huebener has the mobility to make up for some of those aerial struggles -- he’s got 13 rushing touchdowns this season -- but opponents haven’t exactly been afraid of Kansas State’s vertical attack this fall.

Last bowl game: 2014 season’s Alamo Bowl (40-35 loss to UCLA)

All-time bowl record: 7-11

Head coach’s bowl record: Bill Snyder is 7-9 in bowl games, all with Kansas State.

Arkansas can only play good football at the end of the year, it seems. After it looked like the Razorbacks’ promising season could be derailed from the start, with losses to Toledo and Texas Tech to start the season 1-3, Arkansas stormed back to upset Tennessee, Ole Miss and LSU en route to six wins in eight games.

Bret Bielema’s teams are best known for their hard-nosed play, but this year’s Razorbacks, at least, the November Razorbacks,€” have resembled an air raid team at times. Okay, not really, but Arkansas has gotten into shootouts against both Mississippi State and Ole Miss, winning the latter.

Even with the late loss to Mississippi State, this Arkansas team is as dangerous as most in the SEC. The Razorbacks know how to play with power, but they also know how to air it out. You don’t want to play them late in the season. Just ask Texas. Or Ole Miss. Or LSU.

Last bowl game: 2014 Texas Bowl (31-7 win over Texas)

All-time bowl record: 14-23-3

Head coach’s bowl record: Bret Bielema is 3-4 in bowl games. He is 1-0 with Arkansas and was 2-4 with Wisconsin, where he lost lost two Rose Bowls and won a Capital One Bowl.