The Vanderbilt Commodores will stay in-state for their bowl game, traveling to Memphis to face Cincinnati in the Liberty Bowl. And James Franklin wants you, whoever you are, to step up to the plate and help sell this bowl game out. The Commodores finished the year at 6-6, including a 2-6 mark in the SEC, to earn the bowl bid while Cincinnati finished in a three-way tie atop the Big East, losing the BCS tiebreaker to West Virginia.
Liberty Bowl 2011: Vanderbilt Faces Cincinnati In Memphis
The Liberty Bowl actually began being played in Philadelphia way back in 1959, hence the name, but it eventually was moved to Atlantic City in 1964 and then to its current home in Memphis the following year. The bowl’s sponsor history isn’t quite as illustrious, however, as AXA Financial began sponsoring it in 1997 before Autozone bought in prior to 2004.
The school is supposed to match the top team from Conference USA with a team from the SEC, but considering the top C-USA team is bowl-eligible this season, they were able to enact a clause that allowed them to pit an SEC team vs. a Big East alternate.
Game date, time: 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011
Location: Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Ten..
TV channel: ABC
2010 winner and loser: Central Florida 10, Georgia 6
For more on each bowl game as it’s announced, stay tuned to SB Nation’s 2011 college football bowl game bids coverage. And visit our many college football blogs.
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