The 2019 Liberty Bowl was a college football

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

played on December 31, 2019, with kickoff at 3:45 p.m. EST (2:45 p.m. local CST) on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. It was the 61st 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 ...

, and one of the 2019–20 bowl games concluding the 2019 FBS football season. Sponsored by automotive retailer

AutoZone AutoZone, Inc. is an American retailer of aftermarket automotive parts and accessories, the largest in the United States. Founded in 1979, AutoZone has over 6,400 stores across the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil and the US Virgin Is ...

, the game was officially known as the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.

Teams

The game featured the

Navy Midshipmen The Navy Midshipmen are the athletic teams that represent the United States Naval Academy. The academy sponsors 33 varsity sports teams and 12 club sport teams.American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA ...

(AAC) and 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 official color of the teams is Royal Purple; white and silver are generally used as co ...

of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...

. This was the first meeting between the two programs.

Navy

Navy entered the game with a 10–2 record (7–1 in conference), ranked 21st in the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broa ...

. The Midshipmen finished tied with Memphis atop the West Division of the AAC; the Tigers advanced to the AAC Championship Game due to their win over Navy in September. Navy faced two ranked FBS teams during the season, defeating SMU and losing to

Notre Dame Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to: * Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France * University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States ** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, th ...

. Navy averaged 360.82 yards rushing per game during the regular season, 49 yards more than any other FBS team. Their 10 regular season wins, including a December 14 victory in the

Army–Navy Game The Army–Navy Game is an American college football college rivalry, rivalry game between the Army Black Knights football, Army Black Knights of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, and the Navy Midshipmen footbal ...

, was a seven-win improvement over their 2018 team that finished 3–10. This was Navy's second Liberty Bowl; their 1981 team appeared in that season's

, losing to

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, 31–28.

Kansas State

Kansas State entered the game with an 8–4 record, having recorded three more wins than their 2018 team. They were 5–4 in conference, finishing in a four-way tie for third place in the Big 12. The Wildcats defeated both ranked FBS teams they faced, Oklahoma and

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

. Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman previously led

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural College in 1890 as th ...

to four FCS titles. During the regular season, the Wildcats allowed only 21.5 points per game and had the third-best passing defense based on passing yardage. Jordan Brown led the offense with 698 yards in only 10 games; as a team, they averaged 189 rushing yards per game. This was Kansas State's second Liberty Bowl; their 2015 team appeared in the 2016 Liberty Bowl, losing to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...

, 45–23.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

*
Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Navy Midshipmen bowl game navbox

Liberty Bowl

Kansas State Wildcats football bowl games Navy Midshipmen football bowl games