The 2024 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 ...

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 27, 2024, at

Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, originally named Memphis Memorial Stadium, and later Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, is a football stadium located at the former Mid-South Fairgrounds in the Midtown area of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The ...

located in

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 ...

. The 66th annual

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 ...

game featured

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship institution of the five- ...

and

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. The game began at approximately 6:05 p.m. CST and aired on

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. The Liberty Bowl was one of the 2024–25 bowl games concluding the 2024 FBS football season. The game was 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 7,140 stores across the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and the US Virgin Island ...

and was officially known as the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.

Teams

Consistent with conference tie-ins, the 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, United States. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams us ...

from 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 ...

and the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Fayetteville. The University of Arkans ...

from 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). This was the 38th meeting between the Red Raiders and Razorbacks; Arkansas led the series with a 29–8 record in their prior meetings. It was the teams' first meeting since 2015. The teams were once conference mates in the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

(SWC), which Arkansas left after the 1991 season, then dissolved after the 1995 season.

Texas Tech Red Raiders

Texas Tech made their second appearance in the Liberty Bowl, having won their only previous appearance in the 2021 edition. The Red Raiders, led by third-year head coach Joey McGuire, finished the regular season with an overall record of 8–4 with a Big 12 record of 6–3. On December 14, Texas Tech announced that starting quarterback Behren Morton would miss the game due to shoulder surgery. True freshman Will Hammond was named the Red Raiders' starter for the bowl game.

Arkansas Razorbacks

Arkansas made their seventh appearance in the Liberty Bowl, the most by any team to this point in time, having compiled a 3–3 record in prior appearances. The Razorbacks, led by fifth-year head coach

Sam Pittman Sam Pittman (born November 28, 1961) is an American college football coach who is the head football coach at the University of Arkansas. Prior to being hired at Arkansas, he was the associate head coach and offensive line coach at the University ...

, finished the regular season with an overall record of 6–6 with a SEC record of 3–5.

Game summary

In the first half, after forcing a TTU punt, Arkansas drove down the field quickly and QB Taylen Green scored on a 12-yard run around the right end, giving the Hogs a 7-0 lead. After Tech scored on a 37-yard field goal to cut Arkansas' lead to 7-3, the Razorbacks answered quickly, scoring their second touchdown in less than a minute on a Braylen Russell run to extend their lead to 14-3. Arkansas stopped TTU on a 4th down play in the "Red Zone". Another quick score for Arkansas on a 94-yard pass play from Green to receiving speedster Dazmin James makes the score 21-3, Hogs. Tech finally came alive in the 2nd quarter, pinning Arkansas in their own end zone for a safety to make the score Arkansas-21 and TTU-5. The Red Raiders then finally got into the end zone with a 54-yard run by J'Koby Williams and a 2-yard run a Jalin Conyers to make the score 21-19 Hogs. A field goal by Arkansas kicker Matthew Shipley made the halftime score 24-19. In the second half, Shipley converted his second field goal of the game to extend the Razorback lead to 27-19. Running back Tyrell Reed caught a 47-yard pass from Green for another long touchdown, making the score 34-19, Arkansas leading with 7:07 to play in the 3rd. A Marquise Robinson interception at the Arkansas 7-yard line stopped a Texas Tech drive with less than 3 minutes to play in the 3rd quarter. After an Arkansas punt by Devin bale pinned the Red Raiders at their own 2 yard line, the Razorbacks sacked Tech QB Will Hammond for a safety to stretch their lead to 36-19 with 14:21 to play in the game. After another interception by Arkansas, this time by safety Miguel Mitchell who returned the ball from the Arkansas 29 to the TTU 25, the Razorbacks tacked on a third field goal by Shipley with 5:02 to play, making the score Arkansas 39, Texas Tech 19. Tech would add another touchdown with 3:06 to play, a pass from Hammond to receiver Cy Eakin, cutting Arkansas' lead to 39-26. After an unsuccessful onside kick by Tech, the Hogs would run out the rest of the game clock after gaining a first downs on runs by Russell and Green. Final score: Arkansas 39, Texas Tech 26.

Statistics

References

External links

* Game statistics a
statbroadcast.com
{{Arkansas Razorbacks bowl game navbox

Liberty Bowl

2020s in Memphis, Tennessee Texas Tech Red Raiders football bowl games Arkansas Razorbacks football bowl games