| 2015 Birmingham Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 9th Birmingham Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 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) | ||||||||||||||||||
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The2015 Birmingham Bowl was acollege footballbowl game played on January 3, 2015 atLegion Field inBirmingham, Alabama in the United States. The ninth annualBirmingham Bowl saw theFlorida Gators of theSoutheastern Conference defeat theEast Carolina Pirates of theAmerican Athletic Conference by a score of 28–20.[4] The game started at 11:00 a.m.CST and aired onESPN. It was one of the2014–15 bowl games that concluded the2014 FBS football season.
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'sBen Hill Griffin Stadium, a gameFlorida won 31-24.
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 the2006 PapaJohns.com Bowl (the inaugural version of that game), losing to theSouth Florida Bulls by a score of 24–7.
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 coachD. J. Durkin. Durkin was the Gators defensive coordinator until former head coachWill Muschamp was released at the conclusion of the 2014 regular season. Muschamp's replacement is former Colorado State head coachJim McElwain.
This was Florida's first Birmingham Bowl.
| Scoring summary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:[3]
| 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 |