Houston Bowl
{{Short description|Defunct American football college bowl game}}
{{Infobox college football bowl game
| name = Houston Bowl
| full_name = EV1.net Houston Bowl
| nickname =
| defunct = yes
| logo = HoustonBowlLogo.png
| image_size =
| caption =
| stadium = Reliant Stadium (2002–05)
Astrodome (2000–01)
| previous_stadiums =
| location = Houston, Texas
| previous_locations =
| years = 2000–05
| preceded_by = Bluebonnet Bowl (1987)
| succeeded_by = Texas Bowl (2006)
| previous_tie-ins =
| conference_tie-ins = Big 12 (2000-05)
C-USA (2000–02)
| payout = $750,000 (2000){{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11121953/two_more_college_bowls/ |title=Two More College Bowls |newspaper=Hartford Courant |date=April 22, 2000 |access-date=May 20, 2017 |via=newspapers.com}}
| sponsors = galleryfurniture.com (2000–01)
EV1.net (2002–05)
| former_names = galleryfurniture.com Bowl (2000–01)
}}
The Houston Bowl was an NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was played annually in Houston, Texas, from 2000 to 2005. For its first two years, the game was known as the galleryfurniture.com Bowl, named for the website of the sponsor, a Houston furniture chain operated by Jim McIngvale, better known as "Mattress Mack". In 2002, the Houston Bowl was born and later named the EV1.net Houston Bowl, after sponsor EV1.net, for the remainder of the game's existence.
History
The Houston Bowl marked the return of bowl games to Houston for the first time since the final Bluebonnet Bowl in 1987. The bowl played in two locations during its tenure. For the 2000 and 2001 games, Houston's Astrodome was the venue. In 2002, the game moved to Reliant Stadium, the home of the NFL's Houston Texans.
The bowl initially had tie-ins with the Big 12 Conference and Conference USA. The Big 12 extended their commitment in 2002{{cite press release |url=http://www.big12sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&ATCLID=1516934 |title=Big 12 Signs Contracts with Six Bowls |date=April 4, 2002 |website=big12sports.com |access-date=May 20, 2017}} and again in 2005.{{cite press release |url=http://www.big12sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&ATCLID=1520894 |title=EV1.Net Houston Bowl Extends Alliance With The Big 12 Conference And Adds The Big East Conference And Notre Dame To Its 2006-2009 Matchup |date=November 15, 2005 |website=big12sports.com |access-date=May 20, 2017}} Big 12 teams played in each of the six bowls, compiling a 4–2 record.
After the 2005 game, the bowl failed to return EV1.net as a sponsor.{{cite news |url=http://blogs.chron.com/big12/archives/2006/04/houston_bowl_in_jeopardy.html |title=Houston Bowl in jeopardy |first=Joseph |last=Duarte |newspaper=Houston Chronicle |date=18 April 2006 |access-date=29 December 2015 |archive-date=6 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100306161836/http://blogs.chron.com/big12/archives/2006/04/houston_bowl_in_jeopardy.html |url-status=dead }} Game management was turned over to the Texans,{{cite press release |url=http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-1/Texas-Bowl-Board-of-Directors-announced/41F7C8F7-D69B-4BC7-A368-4902607308FB |title=Texas Bowl Board of Directors announced |first=Ana |last=Chavez |date=29 August 2006 |website=houstontexans.com |access-date=20 May 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040033/http://www.houstontexans.com/news/article-1/Texas-Bowl-Board-of-Directors-announced/41F7C8F7-D69B-4BC7-A368-4902607308FB |url-status=dead }} and the NFL Network changed the game's name to the Texas Bowl.{{cite web |url=http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/9563385 |title=NFL Network gets bowl game in Houston |website=NFL.com |date=20 July 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823012236/http://www.nfl.com/nflnetwork/story/9563385 |archive-date=23 August 2006}} While the 2006 playing of the Texas Bowl maintained continuity of having a Houston-based bowl game, NCAA records treat the Texas Bowl and Houston Bowl as separate games.http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2016/Bowls.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}
Game results
| class="wikitable"
! Date !! colspan="2" | Winner !! colspan="2" | Loser !! Notes | |||||
| December 27, 2000 | East Carolina | 40 | Texas Tech | 27 | notes |
| December 28, 2001 | Texas A&M | 28 | TCU | 9 | notes |
| December 27, 2002 | Oklahoma State | 33 | Southern Miss | 23 | notes |
| December 30, 2003 | Texas Tech | 38 | Navy | 14 | notes |
| December 29, 2004 | Colorado | 33 | UTEP | 28 | notes |
| December 31, 2005 | No. 14 TCU | 27 | Iowa State | 24 | notes |
MVPs
| class="wikitable"
!|Date played !|MVPs !|Team !|Position | |||
| rowspan = "2" | December 27, 2000 | David Garrard | East Carolina | QB |
| Bernard Williams | East Carolina | DT | |
| rowspan = "2" | December 28, 2001 | Byron Jones | Texas A&M | DB |
| Joe Weber | Texas A&M | RB | |
| rowspan = "2" | December 27, 2002 | Rashaun Woods | Oklahoma State | WR |
| Kevin Williams | Oklahoma State | DT | |
| rowspan = "2" | December 30, 2003 | B. J. Symons | Texas Tech | QB |
| Adell Duckett | Texas Tech | DL | |
| rowspan = "2" | December 29, 2004 | Joel Klatt | Colorado | QB |
| Tom Hubbard | Colorado | S | |
| rowspan = "2" | December 31, 2005 | Jeff Ballard | TCU | QB |
| Jason Berryman | Iowa State | DL |
Appearances by team
| class="wikitable" |
| Rank
!Team !Appearances !Record !Win % |
|---|
| T1
| style={{NCAA color cell|TCU Horned Frogs}}|TCU Horned Frogs football}} |2 |1–1 |.500 |
| T1
| style={{NCAA color cell|Texas Tech Red Raiders}}|Texas Tech Red Raiders football}} |2 |1–1 |.500 |
| T2
| style={{NCAA color cell|Colorado Buffaloes}}|Colorado Buffaloes football}} |1 |1–0 |1.000 |
| T2
| style={{NCAA color cell|East Carolina Pirates}}|East Carolina Pirates football}} |1 |1–0 |1.000 |
| T2
| style={{NCAA color cell|Oklahoma State Cowboys}}|Oklahoma State Cowboys football}} |1 |1–0 |1.000 |
| T2
| style={{NCAA color cell|Texas A&M Aggies}}|Texas A&M Aggies football}} |1 |1–0 |1.000 |
| T2
| style={{NCAA color cell|Iowa State Cyclones}}|Iowa State Cyclones football}} |1 |0–1 |.000 |
| T2
| style={{NCAA color cell|Navy Midshipmen}}|Navy Midshipmen football}} |1 |0–1 |.000 |
| T2
| style={{NCAA color cell|Southern Miss Golden Eagles}}|Southern Miss Golden Eagles football}} |1 |0–1 |.000 |
| T2
| style={{NCAA color cell|UTEP Miners}}|UTEP Miners football}} |1 |0–1 |.000 |
Appearances by conference
| class="wikitable" | ||
| Rank
! Conference !Appearances ! Record ! Win % !# of Teams !Teams | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1
|6 | 4–2 | .667
|5 |Texas Tech (1–1) Colorado (1–0) Oklahoma State (1–0) Texas A&M (1–0) Iowa State (0–1) |
| 2
|3 | 1–2 | .333
| |East Carolina (1–0) Southern Miss (0–1) TCU (0–1) |
| T3
|MWC |1 | 1–0 | 1.000
| |TCU (1–0) |
| T3
|1 | 0–1 | .000
| |Navy (0–1) |
| T3
|WAC |1 | 0–1 | .000
| |UTEP (0–1) |
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20061205230209/http://www.mmbolding.com/bowls/ History of the Houston Bowl]
{{Houston Bowl navbox}}
{{Bowl game navbox}}