2015 Independence Bowl

2015 Camping World Independence Bowl
Tulsa Golden Hurricane Virginia Tech Hokies
(6–6) (6–6)
The American ACC
52 55
Head coach: 
Philip Montgomery		 Head coach: 
Frank Beamer
1234 Total
Tulsa 2110615 52
Virginia Tech 242173 55
Date December 26, 2015
Season 2015
Stadium Independence Stadium
Location Shreveport, Louisiana
Favorite Va. Tech by 13½[1]
Referee Cooper Castleberry (Mtn. West)[2]
Attendance 31,289[2]
Payout US$TBD
United States TV coverage
Network ESPN/Sports USA
Announcers Dave Lamont, Ray Bentley, & Jane Slater (ESPN)
Eli Gold, Phil Savage, & Darrell Rebouche (Sports USA)

The 2015 Independence Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on Saturday, December 26, 2015 at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana in the United States. The 40th annual Independence Bowl featured the Virginia Tech Hokies of the Atlantic Coast Conference against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane of the American Athletic Conference. Sponsored by Camping World, the game was officially known as the Camping World Independence Bowl.[3]

Team selection

The game was to feature a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference against a team from the Southeastern Conference. However, college football analyst Phil Steele projected prior to the game that neither an ACC nor an SEC team would be selected for the game, projecting that the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten Conference and the San Jose State Spartans of the Mountain West Conference would be selected for the game instead.[4] Virginia Tech was chosen from the ACC, and Tulsa was chosen after the SEC did not have enough eligible teams.

Virginia Tech Hokies

With the announcement that he would retire after the season, Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer took the field one last time to coach the Hokies in the Independence Bowl. Beamer has led the Hokies to 23 straight bowl appearances in 25 seasons as an FBS team (Beamer has coached at VT for a total of 29 seasons). He held a 10–12 career bowl record going into this game. The Hokies won their final game of the season over rival Virginia on a last-second INT, gaining bowl eligibility and extending Beamer's career one more game.

Tulsa Golden Hurricane

This was be Tulsa's first bowl appearance since a 31–17 win over Iowa State in the 2012 Liberty Bowl. It was also the first career bowl appearance for first-year head coach Philip Montgomery. The Golden Hurricane program was 9–10 all-time in bowl games but was 5–3 since 2003.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Scoring summary
Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score
Plays Yards TOP TLS VT
1 14:14 4 75 0:46 TLS D'Angelo Brewer 48-yard touchdown run, Redford Jones kick good 7 0
1 12:53 3 63 1:21 VT Travon McMillian 51-yard touchdown run, Joey Slye kick good 7 7
1 11:54 5 75 0:59 TLS Zack Langer 2-yard touchdown run, Redford Jones kick good 14 7
1 11:42 1 75 0:12 VT Isaiah Ford 75-yard touchdown reception from Michael Brewer, Joey Slye kick good 14 14
1 9:53 4 4 0:56 VT 27-yard field goal by Joey Slye 14 17
1 5:28 8 76 2:48 VT Sam Rogers 14-yard touchdown run, Joey Slye kick good 14 24
1 2:19 9 75 3:09 TLS Bishop Louie 9-yard touchdown reception from Dane Evans, Redford Jones kick good 21 24
2 13:09 10 75 4:10 VT Temuchin "Bucky" Hodges 16-yard touchdown run, Joey Slye kick good 21 31
2 9:09 7 80 3:05 VT Travon McMillian 1-yard touchdown run, Joey Slye kick good 21 38
2 7:11 VT Greg Stroman 67 yard punt return for a touchdown, Joey Slye kick good 21 45
2 2:26 12 65 4:45 TLS 29-yard field goal by Redford Jones 24 45
2 0:20 6 64 0:45 TLS D'Angelo Brewer 10-yard touchdown run, Redford Jones kick good 31 45
3 7:38 15 81 7:22 VT Trey Edmunds 1-yard touchdown run, Joey Slye kick good 31 52
3 4:11 1 9 0:04 TLS Dane Eavns 9-yard touchdown run, Redford Jones kick failed 37 52
4 11:09 6 38 2:32 VT 41-yard field goal by Joey Slye 37 55
4 7:35 9 75 3:34 TLS Josh Atkinson 21-yard touchdown reception from Dane Evans, 2-point pass from Dane Evans to Keyarris Garrett good 45 55
4 3:47 7 76 2:08 TLS Keyarris Garrett 36-yard touchdown reception from Dane Evans, Redford Jones kick good 52 55
"TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 52 55

[2]

Statistics

Statistics[2] TLS VT
First Downs 27 30
Total offense, plays - yards 83–563 81–598
Rushes-yards (net) 39–189 43–254
Passing yards (net) 374 344
Passes, Comp-Att-Int 27–44–0 23–38–1
Time of Possession 26:20 33:40

References

  1. ↑ Odds, Los Angeles Times, December 10, 2015
  2. 1 2 3 4 "2015 Independence Bowl: Tulsa vs. Virginia Tech". Stat Broadcast. Retrieved 2015-12-26.
  3. ↑ "Independence Bowl Confirms Camping World Is New Title Sponsor", KSLA News, July 16, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
  4. ↑ Steele, Phil. "2015–2016 Bowl Projections". PhilSteele.com. Retrieved 2014-11-15.

External links

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