The 2023 Independence 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 16, 2023, at

Independence Stadium Independence Stadium may also refer to: * Independence Stadium (Bakau) in Gambia * Independence Stadium (Namibia) in Windhoek * Independence Stadium (South Africa) in Mthatha, a football stadium in South Africa * Independence Stadium (Tanzania) i ...

in Shreveport, Louisiana. The 47th annual

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 Bowl ...

game featured the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raider ...

from 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 ...

and the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club team ...

from the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

. The game began at approximately 8:15 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 ...

. The Independence Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding 2023 FBS football season. The bowl game was sponsored by engineering services company Radiance Technologies and was officially known as the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl.

Teams

Based on conference tie-ins, the game featured the

of the

and the

of the

. This was the second meeting between California and Texas Tech. The Red Raiders won their only previous meeting, defeating the Golden Bears, 45–31, in the

2004 Holiday Bowl The 2004 Holiday Bowl was the third bowl game (also the second of three in California) played of the 2004–05 bowl season on December 30, 2004. The game was held at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, pitting the Pac-10's California Golden Bears and ...

California

This was California's first Independence Bowl. It was also the Golden Bears' final game as a member of the Pac-12, as they committed to join the Atlantic Coast Conference for the 2024 season. Cal opened their 2023 season by winning three of their first five games, with the losses coming to

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn * Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia * Auburn, Tasmania *A ...

and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

. However, Cal lost each of their subsequent four games, all to ranked Pac-12 foes. This caused them to fall to a record of 3–6, which meant that they would be eliminated from bowl contention with any further losses. However, the Golden Bears managed to win each of their final three games, with running back

Jaydn Ott Jaydn Ott (born December 16, 2002) is an American football running back for the California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic comp ...

rushing for over 400 yards in the three wins. This allowed them to clinch bowl eligibility in the final week of the season, with a record of 6–6.

Texas Tech

This was Texas Tech's third Independence Bowl. The Red Raiders were 0–2 in their previous appearances, having lost the 1986 edition and the 1998 edition, both to Ole Miss. Texas Tech lost three of their first four games to open their 2023 campaign, with the sole victory coming against FCS

Tarleton State Tarleton State University is a public university with its main campus in Stephenville, Texas. It is a founding member of the Texas A&M University System and enrolled over 14,000 students in the fall of 2020. History John Tarleton Agricultural ...

. Combined with an injury to starting quarterback

Tyler Shough Tyler Shough ( ; born September 28, 1999) is an American football quarterback for the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Shough began his college career with the Oregon Ducks from 2018 to 2020 before transferring to Texas Tech in 2021. Early life and high ...

, Texas Tech faced an uphill battle to clinch bowl eligibility. However, the Red Raiders rebounded by winning five of their next seven games in Big 12 play, with the last being a 24–23 victory over

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 ...

to earn the team's sixth win and become bowl-eligible. Texas Tech closed their regular season with a 7–57 loss to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, and entered the Independence Bowl with a record of 6–6.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Texas Tech Red Raiders bowl game navbox

Independence Bowl

California Golden Bears football bowl games Texas Tech Red Raiders football bowl games