BIRMINGHAM BOWL
USF BULLS vs. TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS
Saturday, Dec. 23
Noon p.m. ET
Legion Field
(55,948/Natural Grass)
Birmingham, Alabama
Television
ESPN
Tom Hart, Gene Chizik and Lauren Sisler
Satellite Radio
SiriusXM 84
USF Radio
WWBA-AM 820 (flagship)
THE GAME
The Birmingham Bowl generally pairs an American Athletic Conference team against an opponent from the Southeastern Conference, though Texas Tech is filling the opposite side of the matchup this season … The game was first played in 2006 as the PapaJohns.com Bowl and was the BBVA Compass Bowl for four seasons … Current members of the American Athletic Conference have made eight appearances in the Birmingham Bowl … The American representative has gone 1-3 in the Birmingham Bowl since the league’s formation in the 2013 season … The game is played at Legion Field, which served as the location for the annual Alabama-Auburn matchup from 1948-88 … USF is 2-0 all-time in the Birmingham Bowl … The Bulls defeated ECU in the inaugural game in 2006 and were 46-39 winners against South Carolina last season … Texas Tech will make its first appearance in the Birmingham Bowl … The list of Birmingham Bowl MVPs includes current New England Patriots running back Dion Lewis (with Pittsburgh in 2011) and Buffalo Bills wide receiver Jordan Matthews (with Vanderbilt in 2014), along with current USF QB Quinton Flowers, who won last year.
23/24 USF
9-2, 6-2 American
Head Coach
Charlie Strong (Central Arkansas ’82)
9-2, first season at USF
62-39, ninth season as collegiate head coach
Notes
USF makes its third straight appearance in a bowl game, its second straight in the Birmingham Bowl, and its ninth overall postseason appearance after the Bulls went 9-2 in the regular season … USF opened the season with seven straight wins, extending its winning streak to 15 games before Houston took a 28-24 win in Tampa at the end of October … USF is 5-3 in its previous bowl appearances after last year’s 46-39 overtime win against South Carolina in Birmingham … USF will face a Big 12 opponent in the postseason for the first time … USF went 10-2 last season and could register back-to-back seasons with 10 wins for the first time in program history with a victory against Texas Tech … USF is 27-4 in its last 33 games and has won 19 of its last 24 American Athletic Conference games … USF ranks among the top 30 teams nationally in both total offense (ninth) and total defense (28th) … The Bulls have averaged 38.3 points per game and have scored at least 30 points in all but two games this season … QB Quinton Flowers puts a cap on his record-setting career as he enters the Birmingham Bowl as the owner of 27 school records … Flowers has thrown for 2,600 yards and 21 touchdowns with six interceptions this season, while he has 972 rushing yards with 10 TDs on the ground … Flowers is the sixth player in NCAA FBS history to register at least 60 career passing touchdowns (67) and 40 career rushing TDs (40) … USF is the only team nationally with three players with at least 745 rushing yards … RB Darius Tice has 878 yards and a team-high 11 touchdowns, while RB D’Ernest Johnson has 745 yards and seven TDs … WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling has a team-high 50 receptions for 746 yards and five touchdowns … The defense is led by LB Auggie Sanchez, who has a team-high 76 tackles with 2.0 sacks, 9.0 tackles for loss and two interceptions … Sanchez is USF’s career leader with 380 tackles … S Devin Abraham leads the Bulls with four interceptions, while DE Bruce Hector has team highs with 7.0 sacks and 13.0 tackles for loss … USF ranks third nationally in tackles for loss (8.5 pg0) … K Emilio Nadelman, a first team all-conference pick, has hit a school-record 20 of his 24 field goal attempts.
TEXAS TECH
6-6, 3-6 Big 12
Head Coach
Kliff Kingsbury (Texas Tech ’01)
30-31, fifth season
Notes
Texas Tech will make its 38th all-time bowl appearance as the Red Raiders picked up their sixth win in the regular-season finale against Texas … Texas Tech is 14-22-1 in its previous bowl appearances and has won four of its last five … The Red Raiders fell 56-27 to LSU in the 2015 Texas Bowl in their most recent bowl outing … The last win in a bowl game for Texas Tech was a 37-23 victory against Arizona State in the 2013 Holiday Bowl … Texas Tech began the 2017 season with three straight wins, including a 27-24 decision at Houston, which snapped the Cougars’ 16-game winning streak at TDECU Stadium … The Red Raiders went 2-5 in their last seven games of the regular season … Texas Tech has been known for its explosive offense under fifth-year coach Kliff Kingsbury … The Red Raiders rank 11th nationally in passing offense and 17th in total offense … QB Nic Shimonek has started 11 of the 12 games this season and has thrown for 3,547 yards and 30 touchdowns against eight interceptions … Shimonek did not start the regular-season finale against Texas, but came off the bench in the fourth quarter to engineer a comeback from a 10-point deficit … Shimonek is one of two quarterbacks nationally to have at least 30 touchdowns with eight interceptions or fewer this season (joining Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield) … WR Keke Coutee is a second team All-Big 12 selection who has registered 82 catches for 1,242 yards and nine touchdowns … RB Justin Stockton has a team-high 694 rushing yards with four touchdowns … RB Desmond Nisby leads the squad with seven rushing TDs … Texas Tech has allowed 31.8 points and 434.0 yards per game, a year after the Red Raiders averaged 43.5 points and 554.3 yards … The defense is led by LB Dakota Allen, who has a team-high 93 tackles with 2.0 sacks, 6.0 tackles for loss and two interceptions … CB Justus Parker has a team-leading four interceptions, while LB Eli Howard has the team lead with 5.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss … Parker joined S Jah’Shawn Johnson on the All-Big 12 second team … Texas Tech has 13 players on NFL rosters this season … The Red Raiders are 59-50-1 all-time against current members of the American Athletic Conference.