The 2017 Cactus Bowl was a post-season American

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 26, 2017, at

Chase Field Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, is a retractable roof, retractable-roof stadium in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It is the ballpark of Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. It opened in 1998 Arizona Diamondbacks season, 1998, the ...

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. The game was the 29th edition of the

Cactus Bowl The Rate Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played in the state of Arizona since 1989, under several different names. Played as the Copper Bowl from inception through 1996, it was known as the Insight.com Bowl from 1997 ...

, although only the fourth played under that name. The game was one of the 2017–18 bowl games concluding the 2017 FBS football season. The bowl featured the

Kansas State Wildcats The Kansas State Wildcats (variously "Kansas State", "K-State", or "KSU") are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Kansas State University. The School colors, official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are gener ...

of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

against the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Big Ten Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF ...

of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

, and was the final game of the season for both teams. Kansas State won, 35–17.

Teams

Kansas State and UCLA had met three times previously, most recently in the

2015 Alamo Bowl The 2015 Alamo Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on January 2, 2015, at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. The 22nd edition of the Alamo Bowl featured the Kansas State Wildcats from the Big 12 Conference and the UCLA Bruin ...

, with UCLA leading the series, 2–1.

Kansas State Wildcats

UCLA Bruins

It was announced pregame that UCLA quarterback

Josh Rosen Joshua Ballinger Lippincott Rosen (born February 10, 1997) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons. Rosen played college football for the UCLA Bruins, receiving ...

had not cleared the

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...

protocol and would not play. UCLA named Devon Modster to the starting role in Rosen's absence.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

References

{{UCLA Bruins bowl game navbox

Rate Bowl Kansas State Wildcats football bowl games UCLA Bruins football bowl games

December 2017 sports events in the United States 2010s in Phoenix, Arizona