The 2022 First Responder 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 27, 2022, at

Gerald J. Ford Stadium Gerald J. Ford Stadium is a stadium in University Park, Texas, with a Dallas mailing address. The stadium is owned by Southern Methodist University (SMU) and used primarily for games played by the SMU Mustangs football team. About Ford Stadium ...

University Park, Texas University Park is a city in Dallas County, Texas, United States of America, in suburban Dallas. The population was 23,068 at the 2010 census. The city is home to Southern Methodist University. University Park is bordered on the north, east and ...

. The 13th annual

First Responder Bowl The First Responder Bowl is an NCAA post-season college football bowl game played annually in the Dallas, Texas, area. The bowl was first held on January 1, 2011, and since 2014 has been contested in late December. The bowl was held at the Co ...

, the game featured

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

of the

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 ...

and

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is one of the collegiate athletic conferences affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A). The MW officially began operations ...

. The game began at 2:20 p.m. CST and was aired 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 one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by cleanup and restoration company

Servpro Servpro is a franchisor of fire and water cleanup and restoration franchises in the United States and Canada. The franchise system provides localized services as well as large-scale disaster recovery. It is headquartered in Gallatin, Tennessee. ...

, the game was officially known as the Servpro First Responder Bowl.

Teams

Based on conference tie-ins, the game was expected to feature teams from the

(The American), the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), or 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 ...

. Selected for the bowl were Memphis, of The American, and Utah State, of the

. This was their eighth meeting; entering the game, the Tigers led the all-time series, 4–3.

Memphis Tigers

Memphis compiled a 6–6 record in regular-season play, 3–5 in conference play. Their season included a four-game winning streak followed by a four-game losing streak. The Tigers faced two ranked teams, losing to both

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

and

UCF The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University S ...

. Entering this game, Memphis had been invited to a bowl game each season since 2014, including the

2021 Hawaii Bowl The Hawaiʻi Bowl is a college football bowl game that has been played in the Honolulu, Hawaii area since 2002. The game was originally held at Aloha Stadium in Halawa, Hawaii, a suburb of Honolulu, before moving to the Clarence T. C. Ching Athl ...

, which was canceled the day before kickoff.

Utah State Aggies

Utah State also recorded a 6–6 regular-season record; they went 5–3 in conference play. After starting the season 1–4, the Aggies then won five of their remaining seven games to become

bowl eligible Bowl eligibility in college football at the NCAA Division I FBS level is the standard through which teams become available for selection to participate in postseason bowl games. When a team achieves this state, it is described as "bowl-eligible". ...

. They faced, and lost to, two ranked FBS teams,

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = " Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,7 ...

and

BYU Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...

. This was the Aggies' 10th bowl appearance since the 2011 season.

Game summary

Statistics

References

{{Utah State Aggies bowl game navbox

First Responder Bowl Memphis Tigers football bowl games Utah State Aggies football bowl games