The 1998 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 31, 1998, at

Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, originally named Memphis Memorial Stadium, and later Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, is a stadium, football stadium located at the former Mid-South Fairgrounds in the Midtown, Memphis, Midtown area of Memphis, Tenne ...

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 40th 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 ...

, the game matched the

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the Big 12 C ...

of the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

(WAC) and the

Tulane Green Wave The Tulane Green Wave are the athletic teams that represent Tulane University, located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tulane competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the American Athletic Conference (The American). There are 14 Green Wave interc ...

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 ...

(C-USA). The game was sponsored by the

Axa Equitable Life Insurance Company Equitable Holdings, Inc. (formerly The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, and also known as The Equitable) is an American financial services and insurance company that was founded in ...

and was branded as the AXA/Equitable Liberty Bowl. Tulane won the game, 41–27, to finish—along with the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

—as the only undefeated Division I-A teams for the

1998 NCAA Division I-A football season The 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season, play of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association at the Division I-A level, began in late summer 1998 and culminated with the major bowl games in ...

Teams

BYU

After opening the season 2–3, BYU won seven consecutive games to earn a spot in the WAC Championship Game. In that contest, the Cougars lost to the

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

20–13. Prior to the championship game, the Cougars accepted a bid to play in the 40th Liberty Bowl. The appearance in the game marked BYU's first New Year's Eve bowl, and their first all-time appearance in the Liberty Bowl. In mid-December, BYU head coach

LaVell Edwards Reuben LaVell Edwards (October 11, 1930 – December 29, 2016) was an American college football head coach for Brigham Young University (BYU). With 257 career victories, he ranks as one of the most successful college football coaches of all tim ...

announced that starting

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

Ronney Jenkins and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

Heshimu Robertson would be suspended for the Liberty Bowl for violating the Brigham Young University Honor Code.

Tulane

The 1998 Tulane squad entered the season with returning C-USA Offensive Player of the Year

Shaun King Jeffery Shaun King (born September 17, 1979) is an American writer and activist. As a writer, King has contributed to Daily Kos, ''New York Daily News,'' and ''The Young Turks.'' King co-founded the Real Justice PAC in 2018, launched the websi ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and picked to finish tied for second place with East Carolina in the preseason conference rankings. Following their week two victory over SMU, local media started to mention the Green Wave as a potential at-large opponent to play in the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

as part of the inaugural

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a college football post-season selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of America ...

(BCS). Although Tulane finished the regular season with an 11–0 record, since they finished outside the sixth position in the final BCS standings, the Green Wave did not qualify for a BCS bowl game. Instead they were invited to the Liberty Bowl as C-USA champions. The appearance in the game marked Tulane's first bowl since the 1987

Independence Bowl The Independence Bowl is a post-season National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually each December at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Independence Bow ...

, and their third all-time appearance in the Liberty Bowl. Following the conclusion of the regular season, on December 2 head coach

Tommy Bowden Tommy Pearce Bowden (; born July 10, 1954) is an American former college football coach. He served as the head coach at Clemson University from 1999 until October 13, 2008. He is a son of Bobby Bowden, former head football coach of Florida Sta ...

resigned as head coach to accept the same position at Clemson. At that time

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

Rich Rodriguez Richard Alan Rodriguez (; born May 24, 1963), also known as Rich Rod, is an American college football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at West Virginia Mountaineers football, West Virginia University, his second sti ...

was named interim head coach through at least the Liberty Bowl. Although Rodriguez was thought to be the top candidate for the coaching vacancy, on December 7 Tulane announced

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

offensive coordinator

Chris Scelfo Christopher Joseph Scelfo (born September 30, 1963) is an American football coach who serves as a special assistant to the head coach at Tulsa. He was most recently the offensive line coach for the DC Defenders of the XFL. He was the offensive ...

as Tulane's new head coach. At the time of the announcement, officials also stated Scelfo would serve as head coach in the bowl game instead of Rodriguez, and that most of Bowden's staff would remain in place for the Liberty Bowl.

Game summary

In a game ultimately dominated by Tulane, BYU scored the first points of the game. Early in the first, Kevin Feterik hit Ben Horton for an 11-yard touchdown reception, and after Owen Pochman missed the

extra point Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * Extra (newspaper), ...

the Cougars took an early 6–0 lead. The Green Wave responded on the following drive with a 31-yard

Brad Palazzo Marcus Brad Palazzo (born June 29, 1975) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker and punter. He played college football for the Tulane Green Wave. He was originally signed as an undrafted free agent by the Green ...

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

to cut the lead in half. With BYU driving on the ensuing possession, Michael Jordan

intercepted In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team bu ...

a Feterik pass and returned it 79 yards for touchdown. The return was the longest in the history on the Liberty Bowl and gave Tulane a 10–6 lead. In the second quarter,

scored on a three-yard run and Palazzo hit a 23-yard field goal to give Tulane a 20–6 lead at the half. King continued the scoring in the third with a pair of touchdown passes to cap two 82-yard drives. The first came on a 60-yard pass to Kerwin Cook and the second on a 13-yard pass to Jamaican Dartez. With Tulane leading 34–6 entering the fourth quarter, BYU scored the first of three late touchdowns on a three-yard Aaron Cupp touchdown run. Tulane responded on the next drive with its final points of the game on a five-yard Toney Converse run to extend their lead to 41–13. The Cougars closed the contest with an 18-yard Cupp reception for a score and a three-yard Reno Mahe touchdown run to bring the final score to 41–27. For his 276 yards passing, 109 yards rushing and three total touchdowns, Tulane

Shaun King was named the game's

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

References

{{Tulane Green Wave bowl game navbox

Liberty Bowl BYU Cougars football bowl games Tulane Green Wave football bowl games 1998 in sports in Tennessee December 1998 sports events in the United States