The 2010 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 ...

postseason

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 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 ...

, on December 31, 2010. The 52nd 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 ...

matched up the

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The offic ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) against the

UCF Knights The UCF Knights are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in unincorporated Orange County, Florida near Orlando, Florida, Orlando. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NC ...

, the

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 ...

champions. With sponsorship from

AutoZone AutoZone, Inc. is an American retailer of aftermarket automotive parts and accessories, the largest in the United States. Founded in 1979, AutoZone has 7,140 stores across the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and the US Virgin Island ...

, the game was officially the AutoZone Liberty Bowl. The game was won by UCF, 10–6. The game marked UCF's second appearance in the Liberty Bowl. In the 2007 edition, the Knights had lost to

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

. With a 1–1 record in prior appearances, this was Georgia's third trip to the Liberty Bowl.

Teams

Georgia running back Caleb King, backup cornerback Derek Owens and reserve offensive tackle A. J. Harmon were suspended for the Liberty Bowl for academic issues.

Game notes

The victory marked UCF's first-ever bowl win. No. 25 UCF and Georgia faced each other in the second meeting between the two schools. The Bulldogs won the previous meeting, 24-23, in 1999, in a game sometimes known as the " Burglary Between the Hedges."UCF Liberty Bowl win against Georgia would avenge Burglary Between the Hedges
/ref> The Knights started fast out of the gate, with

Quincy McDuffie Quincy McDuffie (born September 24, 1990) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver and return specialist in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football for the UCF Knights. He was named to th ...

returning the opening kickoff 95-yards for a touchdown, but the play was called back due to a holding penalty. Georgia took a 3-0 lead behind a 95-yard drive later in the first quarter. Late in the second quarter, an interception by UCF's Josh Linam set up a 22-yard field goal, and a 3-3 tie at halftime. With Georgia leading 6-3 in the fourth quarter, UCF quarterback Jeffrey Godfrey drove the Knights 65 yards for the game's first touchdown, and a 10-6 lead. In the final seconds, Georgia had an attempt at a potential game-winning "hail mary" pass, but it was knocked down by

Kemal Ishmael Kemal Ishmael (born May 6, 1991) is an American former professional football linebacker and safety. He was selected by the Atlanta Falcons in the seventh round of the 2013 NFL draft. He played college football at UCF. College career Ishmael pl ...

as time expired. Latavius Murray rushed for 104 yards on 18 carries, with one touchdown, earning him Liberty Bowl MVP honors.

Scoring summary

References

Liberty Bowl Georgia Bulldogs football bowl games UCF Knights football bowl games 2010 in sports in Tennessee December 2010 sports events in the United States {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub