The 1996 Liberty Bowl was a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

played on December 27, 1996, in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. The 38th edition of the

Liberty Bowl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic Cit ...

, it matched the

Houston Cougars The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education inst ...

and the

Syracuse Orangemen The Syracuse Orange are the athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East Conference. The school's mascot is Ot ...

Background

Syracuse, who had finished as co-champion of the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

(alongside Virginia Tech and Miami, who went to the

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

and Carquest Bowls, respectively), was invited to play in the Liberty Bowl, their first Liberty Bowl since

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

. This was their fifth bowl game in the decade, and 8th in the past 10 seasons. As for Houston, they had finished as co-champion of

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

(along with Southern Miss) in the inaugural year of the conference. This was their first bowl game since

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

Game summary

The game found two future first rounders and

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

participants: Syracuse's

Donovan McNabb Donovan Jamal McNabb (born November 25, 1976) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the Philadelphia Eagles. He played college ...

and Houston's

Antowain Smith Antowain Drurell Smith (born March 14, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for nine seasons in the National Football League (NFL), most notably with the New England Patriots, with whom he won two Su ...

. Although only completing four of ten pass attempts, McNabb rushed for 49 yards and two touchdowns. Smith rushed for 119 yards and a touchdown, as well as receiving for 44 yards and a touchdown. Orangemen running back Malcolm Thomas ran for 201 yards and a touchdown earning MVP honors.

Scoring summary

* Syracuse – Donovan McNabb 1 yard touchdown run (Trout kick) – 13:16 remaining in the 1st quarter * Houston – Justin Davis 21 yard touchdown pass from Chuck Clements (Villarreal kick) – 11:48 remaining in the 1st quarter * Syracuse – Rob Konrad 2 yard touchdown run (Trout kick) – 9:02 remaining in the 2nd quarter * Syracuse – Team safety (snap sailed over the head of punter Ignacio Sauceda, landing in the end zone) – 3:58 remaining in the 2nd quarter * Houston – Justin Davis 3 yard touchdown run (Villarreal kick) – 0:30 remaining in the 2nd quarter * Syracuse – Donovan McNabb 2 yard touchdown run (Trout kick) – 13:52 remaining in the 4th quarter * Houston – Sebastian Villarreal 23 yard field goal – 10:50 remaining in the 4th quarter * Syracuse – Malcolm Thomas 6 yard touchdown run (Trout kick) – 5:29 remaining in the 4th quarter

Statistics

References

Liberty BOwl The Liberty Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in late December or early January since 1959. For its first five years, it was played at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia before being held at Atlantic Cit ...

Liberty Bowl Houston Cougars football bowl games Syracuse Orange football bowl games 1996 in sports in Tennessee December 1996 sports events in the United States {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub