2015 Birmingham Bowl (January)

The 2015 Birmingham Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 3, 2015 at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama in the United States. The ninth annual Birmingham Bowl saw the Florida Gators of the Southeastern Conference defeat the East Carolina Pirates of the American Athletic Conference by a score of 28–20.[4] The game started at 11:00 a.m. CST and aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2014–15 bowl games that concluded the 2014 FBS football season.

2015 Birmingham Bowl
9th Birmingham Bowl
East Carolina Pirates Florida Gators (8–4) (6–5) The American SEC 20 28 Head coach:  Ruffin McNeill Head coach:  D. J. Durkin (interim)
1 2 3 4 Total East Carolina 7 0 10 3 20 Florida 7 14 7 0 28
Date	January 3, 2015
Season	2014
Stadium	Legion Field
Location	Birmingham, Alabama
MVP	Florida RB Adam Lane[1]
Favorite	Florida by 7[2]
Referee	Dan Romeo (Mtn. West)[3]
Attendance	30,083[3]
Payout	US$1,100,000 (Florida) 900,000 (East Carolina)
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN/ESPN Radio
Announcers	Dave Neal, Andre Ware, & Laura Rutledge (ESPN) Clay Matvick, Greg McElroy, & Cara Capuano (ESPN Radio)

Teams

This was the second overall meeting between these two teams. The last time these two teams met was in 1983, a game Florida won by a score of 24–17. The teams would meet again on September 12, 2015 at Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, a game Florida won 31-24.

East Carolina Pirates

See also: 2014 East Carolina Pirates football team

After finishing their regular season with an 8–4 record, the Pirates accepted their invitation to play in the game.[5]

This was East Carolina's second Birmingham Bowl. They previously played in the 2006 PapaJohns.com Bowl (the inaugural version of that game), losing to the South Florida Bulls by a score of 24–7.

Florida Gators

See also: 2014 Florida Gators football team

After finishing their regular season with a 6–5 record, the Gators accepted their invitation to play in the game.[6]

Florida was led by interim head coach D. J. Durkin. Durkin was the Gators defensive coordinator until former head coach Will Muschamp was released at the conclusion of the 2014 regular season. Muschamp's replacement is former Colorado State head coach Jim McElwain.

This was Florida's first Birmingham Bowl.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP ECU UF 1 7:06 12 78 3:50 ECU Justin Hardy 3-yard touchdown reception from Shane Carden, Warren Harvey kick good 7 0 1 3:09 – – – UF Interception returned 29 yards for touchdown by Brian Poole, Austin Hardin kick good 7 7 2 14:56 4 68 0:54 UF Adam Lane 2-yard touchdown run, Austin Hardin kick good 7 14 2 6:23 13 80 6:23 UF Brandon Powell 13-yard touchdown reception from Treon Harris, Austin Hardin kick good 7 21 3 12:51 4 70 0:42 ECU Cam Worthy 4-yard touchdown reception from Shane Carden, Warren Harvey kick good 14 21 3 11:20 3 91 1:31 UF Ahmad Fulwood 86-yard touchdown reception from Treon Harris, Austin Hardin kick good 14 28 3 6:10 7 44 1:26 ECU 24-yard field goal by Warren Harvey 17 28 4 11:55 10 54 2:59 ECU 24-yard field goal by Warren Harvey 20 28 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 20 28

Source: [3]

Statistics

Statistics[3]	ECU	UF
First downs	32	14
Plays–yards	536	345
Rushes–yards	33–109	42–174
Passing yards	427	171
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	34–68–2	13–28–1
Time of possession	32:23	27:37

References

1. Robbie Andreu, "UF notebook: Lane MVP outing Archived 2015-02-09 at the Wayback Machine," The Gainesville Sun (January 3, 2015). Retrieved February 8, 2015.
2. "College Football Lines, NCAA College Football Lines At Bovada Online Sportsbook". Bovada. Archived from the original on December 2, 2014.
3. "2015 Birmingham Bowl Official Game Stats". Stat Broadcast.
4. Birmingham Bowl pits Florida against East Carolina
5. "East Carolina To Play Florida In The Birmingham Bowl". ECUPirates.com. East Carolina Pirates. December 7, 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
6. "Gators to Face East Carolina in 2015 Birmingham Bowl; Ticket Info Available". GatorZone.com. Florida Gators. December 7, 2014. Archived from the original on December 14, 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.