Bo’s Bits: Vol. 4

First 15 years of the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl have had it all

By Bo Carter, National Football Foundation Correspondent

From Top 25 matchups between the Big Ten and Big 12 Conferences the first two games at historic Cotton Bowl Stadium to the first bowl game declared a no-contest due to incessant thunderstorms to an initial game featuring a future U.S. senator to a clash finished just before an EF-4 tornado struck the Dallas area to a cavalcade of future NFL standouts, the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl literally has encountered just about football scenario possible in less than two decades of existence.

And the Jan. 3 resumption with the two schools with the most total appearances in the SPFRB with five (three by North Texas and back-to-back treks by Sun Belt Conference power Texas State) promises just as much intrigue and maybe even a few more milestones.

The first then-Ticket City Bowl at Cotton Bowl Stadium matched Texas Tech from the Big 12 against a streaking Northwestern crew (in the midst of a school-record five consecutive bowl seasons from 2008-12) after both had received votes or had been ranked among the Top 25 at some point in the 2010 season.

Bowl founders and ESPN officials initiated the Ticket City Bowl as a way to bring New Year’s Day football back to Cotton Bowl stadium after the Cotton Bowl Athletic Association decided to move the Cotton Bowl Classic to AT&T Stadium in nearby Arlington after the 73-year reign of the Classic at Cotton Bowl Stadium from 1937-2009.

Both head coaches in that game have had noted national careers – Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald as an NFF College Hall of Fame player during his undergraduate days with the Wildcats and winner of a NU-best 110 contests and 10 bowl tussles during his 17-year career and Texas Tech’s Tommy Tuberville who won 159 encounters over 21 seasons with 13 bowl appearances over a 21-season career at four schools. Then in January 2021 he became Senator Tommy Tuberville (Rep-Ala.) after a successful first-time campaign for office.

The game result was a high-scoring showdown with Tech prevailing 45-38.

Future Ticket City and Heart of Dallas Bowls produced a 30-14 win by No. 20 Houston over No. 24 Penn State in 2012 with future NFL Comeback Player of the Year Case Keenum piloting a UH win with a Cotton Bowl Stadium collegiate record 45-of-69 passing performance for 532 yards, Oklahoma State’s 58-14 win over Purdue for the seventh of a school-high 18 consecutive bowl trips under head coach Mike Gundy from 2006-2023 and North Texas’ first bowl trip since the 2004 season with a 36-14 win over UNLV.

Three years later featured the first overtime in the young bowl’s annals with the first service academy to play in this game – Army West Point – edging reappearing UNT, 38-31, with one additional period needed.

In between, Louisiana Tech scored a program-building 38-14 win over Big Ten opponent Illinois, and the 2015 Washington Huskies became the first Pac-12 Conference representative and downed Southern Miss. Minutes after that game ended the city of Dallas went under a tornado warning, the two teams were sequestered in concrete locker rooms for a couple of hours and the Cotton Bowl pressbox and nearby facilities were evacuated. The EF-4 tornado passed just east of downtown Dallas but did millions of dollars in damage to suburban Garland, Mesquite, Rowlett, and Rockwall as there were 10 fatalities along with the immense property destruction.

In December of 2018, No. 23 Boise State and Atlantic Coast Conference contender Boston College played just over seven minutes into the first quarter with BC leading 7-0. Then Mother Nature decided it might be time to end this one. A four-hour thunderstorm ensued with lighting striking one of the east side Cotton Bowl light standards at one point, and bowl officials and both teams decided on a no-contest call – the first in the then-117-year history of postseason games.

2019 found the Dallas classic moving to SMU’s Ford Stadium on a crystal-clear day with moderate temperatures and a resulting 23-20 victory by WKU over Western Michigan. Thankfully, good climate conditions and plenty of offense graced the 2020-22 games, though COVID-19 public gathering conditions limited the 2020 turnout to 3,000-plus.

 hen came the historic 45-21 win by Texas State over Rice in the ’23 renewal and a storming of the field by an estimated 20,000-plus Texas State fans on hand to witness the Bobcats first-ever bowl triumph. Prior to the celebration, the concession stands ran out of malt beverages due to Bobcats’ fans literally getting into the “spirit” of the season.

What will happen this season is open to conjecture, but it should be intriguing if history is any indication.

To paraphrase that bearded gentleman on some recent beverage commercials, “This is the most interesting bowl in the world.”