Liberty Bowl
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
The Liberty Bowl is an annual postseason college football bowl game played in December of each year since 1959. The bowl game was played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at John F. Kennedy Stadium (nee Municipal Stadium) until 1963. Initially, the game, the only cold-weather bowl game of its time, was plagued by poor attendance (the 1963 game drew only 8,309 spectators), so the 1964 game was the first bowl game ever played indoors in Atlantic City, New Jersey at Convention Hall on a shortened field before 6,059 fans.
Since 1965, the game has made its home in Memphis, Tennessee in Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium to much larger crowds and has established itself as one of the oldest non-BCS bowls. Since 1997, the regular season champion of Conference USA has served as the host team. From 1998 to 2003, the opponent for the C-USA champion was the Mountain West Conference champion. However, in 2004 it was changed to the Western Athletic Conference winner. Beginning with the 2006 football season, the game will match teams from Conference USA and the Southeastern Conference.
The Liberty Bowl was sponsored by AXA Financial and was known as the AXA Liberty Bowl from 1997 to 2003. Since 2004, the game has been sponsored by auto parts retailer AutoZone, and is now called the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
[edit] All-Time Results
| Year | Winner | Score | Loser |
| 1959 | Penn State | 7-0 | Alabama |
| 1960 | Penn State | 41-12 | Oregon |
| 1961 | Syracuse | 15-14 | Miami (FL) |
| 1962 | Oregon State | 6-0 | Villanova |
| 1963 | Mississippi State | 16-12 | N.C. State |
| 1964 | Utah | 32-6 | West Virginia |
| 1965 | Mississippi | 13-7 | Auburn |
| 1966 | Miami (FL) | 14-7 | Virginia Tech |
| 1967 | N.C. State | 14-7 | Georgia |
| 1968 | Mississippi | 34-17 | Virginia Tech |
| 1969 | Colorado | 47-33 | Alabama |
| 1970 | Tulane | 17-3 | Colorado |
| 1971 | Tennessee | 14-13 | Arkansas |
| 1972 | Georgia Tech | 31-30 | Iowa State |
| 1973 | N.C. State | 31-18 | Kansas |
| 1974 | Tennessee | 7-3 | Maryland |
| 1975 | USC | 20-0 | Texas A&M |
| 1976 | Alabama | 36-6 | UCLA |
| 1977 | Nebraska | 21-17 | North Carolina |
| 1978 | Missouri | 20-15 | LSU |
| 1979 | Penn State | 9-6 | Tulane |
| 1980 | Purdue | 28-25 | Missouri |
| 1981 | Ohio State | 31-28 | Navy |
| 1982 | Alabama | 21-15 | Illinois |
| 1983 | Notre Dame | 19-18 | Boston College |
| 1984 | Auburn | 21-15 | Arkansas |
| 1985 | Baylor | 21-7 | LSU |
| 1986 | Tennessee | 21-14 | Minnesota |
| 1987 | Georgia | 20-17 | Arkansas |
| 1988 | Indiana | 34-10 | South Carolina |
| 1989 | Mississippi | 42-29 | Air Force |
| 1990 | Air Force | 23-11 | Ohio State |
| 1991 | Air Force | 38-15 | Mississippi State |
| 1992 | Mississippi | 13-0 | Air Force |
| 1993 | Louisville | 18-7 | Michigan State |
| 1994 | Illinois | 30-0 | East Carolina |
| 1995 | East Carolina | 19-13 | Stanford |
| 1996 | Syracuse | 30-17 | Houston |
| 1997 | Southern Miss | 41-7 | Pittsburgh |
| 1998 | Tulane | 41-27 | BYU |
| 1999 | Southern Miss | 23-17 | Colorado State |
| 2000 | Colorado State | 22-17 | Louisville |
| 2001 | Louisville | 28-10 | BYU |
| 2002 | TCU | 17-3 | Colorado State |
| 2003 | Utah | 17-0 | Southern Miss |
| 2004 | Louisville | 44-40 | Boise State |
| 2005 | Tulsa | 31-24 | Fresno State |
