SERVPRO FIRST RESPONDER BOWL
 

RICE OWLS
vs.
TEXAS STATE BOBCATS

Tuesday, Dec. 26 | 5:30 p.m. ET
Gerald J. Ford Stadium | (32,000/FieldTurf)
Dallas, Texas

Television
ESPN
Dave Neal, Aaron Murray and Morgan Uber

National Radio
Bowl Season Radio
Brian Estridge, Justin Fuente and Chris Mycoskie
SiriusXM 84

Rice Radio
Varsity Network

THE GAME
The SERVPRO First Responder Bowl has been based in the Dallas area since its debut in the 2010 season … The game was played at the Cotton Bowl from until it moved to SMU’s Gerald J. Ford Stadium in 2019 … The bowl began honoring first responders in 2014 as an effort to show appreciation to police officers, firefighters, EMS workers and others … Tickets for first responders are underwritten by the bowl’s corporate partners … The year’s game will mark the first time that the First Responder Bowl hosts two teams from the state of Texas … The game was previously known as the TicketCity Bowl and the Heart of Dallas Bowl before taking on its current namesake in 2018 … The 2018 game between Boise State and Boston College was canceled due to inclement weather … Rice and Texas State will both play in the bowl for the first time …The only team that has made more than one First Responder Bowl appearance is North Texas … Rice and Texas State will meet for the fifth time overall and the first time since 1987 … All four previous meetings were played at Rice Stadium in Houston … Rice was a 48-0 winner in 1920 and a 38-28 victory in 1987, while Texas State claimed a 19-6 win in 1923 and a 31-6 decision in 1986..

FIRST RESPONDER BOWL RESULTS (1-0)
1-2-11    Texas Tech 45, Northwestern 38
1-2-12    Houston 30, Penn State 14
1-1-13    Oklahoma State 58, Purdue 14
1-1-14    North Texas 36, UNLV 14
12-26-14    Louisiana Tech 35, Illinois 18
12-26-15    Washington 44, Southern Mississippi 31
12-27-16    Army 38, North Texas 31 (ot)
12-26-17    Utah 30, West Virginia 14
12-30-19    Western Kentucky 23, Western Michigan 20
12-26-20    Louisiana 31, UTSA 24
12-28-21    Air Force 31, Louisville 28
12-27-22    Memphis 38, Utah State 10

RICE
6-6, 4-4 American

Head Coach
Mike Bloomgren (Florida State ’99)
22-45, sixth season

Rice will make its 14th appearance in a bowl game with this year’s trip to the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl … The Owls have gone 7-6 in their previous 13 bowls, which date to a 1938 Cotton Bowl victory against Colorado … Rice will play in bowl games in consecutive years for the third time in program history … The Owls fell 38-24 to Southern Miss last season in the LendingTree Bowl … Rice is looking for its first bowl victory since a 30-6 decision against Fresno State in the 2014 Hawaii Bowl … The Owls scored back-to-back wins to close the regular season and gain bowl eligibility … That sequence followed a three-game slide against teams that are a combined 23-1 in The American, with two of those losses coming by a combined seven points … Five of the Owls’ six losses were to teams that are playing in Bowl Season … QB JT Daniels missed the last three games and has since announced the end of his playing career … Daniels passed for 2,443 yards and 21 touchdowns in 2023 … QB AJ Padgett has started the last three contests and has thrown for 636 yards and seven touchdowns against three interceptions this season … Padgett threw three touchdown passes and had 255 passing yards in the regular-season finale against Florida Atlantic … Padgett was Rice’s starter in the LendingTree Bowl as a true freshman last season, where he passed for 295 yards and three TDs without an interceptions … WR Luke McCaffrey earned all-conference first team honors after he had  68 receptions for 963 yards and 12 touchdowns in the regular season   … McCaffrey has at least one touchdown reception in each of the last seven games and has scored in 10 of the Owls’ 12 games this season … RB Dean Connors is the leading rusher with 707 yards and five touchdowns to go with 42 receptions for 395 yards and three TD catches … RB Daelen Alexander has scored five rushing touchdowns on only 18 carries … The defense is led by LB Plae Wyatt, who has 76 tackles with a sack, six pass breakups and a  fumble recovery … LB Myron Morrison has 71 stops, while LB Josh Pearcy has 42 tackles with seven tackles for loss … DE Coleman Coco leads the squad with four sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss … K Tim Horn has made 8 of 12 field goal attempts, while P Conor Hunt has averaged 39.6 yards on 48 punts.

TEXAS STATE
7-5, 4-4 Sun Belt

Head Coach
GJ Kinne (Tulsa ’12)
7-5, first season at Texas State
19-7, second season as collegiate head coach

Texas State is playing in a bowl game for the first time in program history with the Bobcats’ selection to the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl … Texas State is one of 12 Sun Belt Conference teams to play in Bowl Season in 2023 … The Bobcats’ roster has 28 players form the Dallas-Fort Worth area … The Bobcats went 4-8 last season, but matched that win total in the first five games of 2023 under first-year head coach GJ Kinne … Texas State opened some eyes in Week 1 with a road win against Baylor … The Bobcats dropped their only regular-season game against an American Athletic Conference opponent, falling 20-13 at UTSA in a game that drew nearly 50,000 in San Antonio … The seven wins match the most by Texas State as an FBS program (2014) and ended a streak of eight consecutive sub-.500 seasons … The Bobcats went 5-1 at home this season, but were 2-4 away from San Marcos … Texas State saw two players named to the All-Sun Belt first team as RB Ismail Mahdi was chosen as an all-purpose player and K Mason Shipley earned the honor on special teams … Mahdi was also chosen as an FWAA second-team All-America selection … Mahdi has rushed for 1,209 yards and 10 touchdowns on 199 carries and has 529 yards and a touchdown on 20 kickoff returns … Mahdi averaged 167.8 all-purpose yards in the regular season, leading all FBS players with 2,014 yards … Shipley has gone 14-for-14 on field goal attempts and 52-of-53 on PATs and is the Bobcats’ leading scorer with 94 points … Shipley is one of three FBS kickers to finish the regular season with a perfect field goal percentage … QB TJ Finley has passed for 3,287 yards and 24 touchdowns against eight interceptions … WR Joey Hobert has team highs with 71 receptions, 847 receiving yards and eight touchdown catches … WR Kole Wilson has 61 catches for 697 yards and eight TDs as well … The defense, which has 36 sacks and 102 tackles for loss, is led by LB Brian Holloway, who has 98 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and two interceptions … DE Ben Bell has turned in eight sacks and 13 tackles for loss … S Kaleb Culp has recovered four fumbles … P Seamus O’Kelly has averaged 41.1 yards on 36 punts.