To help prime you for Friday’s college football quadrupleheader, we’ve compiled this handy list of fun factoids concerning the 2010 Liberty Bowl.
2010 Liberty Bowl Game: Time, Location, History And More
Proper name: The AutoZone Liberty Bowl, previously known as the AXA Liberty Bowl. Between the Meineke Car Care Bowl and the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, it’s car advertisements galore on New Year’s Eve this year.
Setting: Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, Memphis, Tennessee, home of the Memphis Tigers.
Traditional conference pairing: Conference USA, SEC with the Big East thrown in as an alternate.
2010 matchup: The Georgia Bulldogs and Central Florida Knights
Announcers: Former player alert! Andre Ware has the color, Dave Neal on the play-by-play and Cara Capuano manning the sidelines.
Weather: A blustery day in Memphis. Weather calls for a chance of heavy showers and thunderstorms with in the upper 60s. Wind could also be a factor with gusts in the 30s. Should be a lovely day for a bowl.
Neatest fact: The Liberty Bowl was the first Bowl Game played inside. In 1964, it moved to Convention Hall in Atlantic City in what was a thrown-together idea. Real grass was grown, padding was laid down and the Liberty Bowl went on as planned. One small problem ... the end zones were only eight yards long. In other words, it was kind of like this year’s game at Wrigley Field.
Closest finish: There has been two one-point finishes in the Liberty Bowl’s history. In 1961, the third time the bowl was played, Syracuse squeaked by Miami, 15-14. In 1993, the Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish came away with the second one-point win in the Liberty Bowl, beating Boston College, 19-18.
Most lopsided finish: In 1997, Southern Mississippi steamrolled to a 41-7 win over Pittsburgh.
Tidbits of interest: The Liberty Bowl was played in Jan. for each of the last two years, but makes its return to December in 2010, meaning two Liberty Bowls will have been played this season. The Liberty Bowl was much more patriotic in the past, inviting the winner of the Commander-in-Chief’s trophy automatically, if that team was bowl eligible. Air Force strung together four-straight Liberty Bowl appearances, winning two, before the rule went away and Conference USA became the tie-in.
The 2010 Liberty Bowl kicks off at 3:30 p.m. EST, Friday, December 31. The game will be televised on ESPN. For a complete list of bowls, browse our 2010 college football postseason schedule.
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