| 2018 AutoZone Liberty Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 60th Liberty Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 31, 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Liberty Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Memphis, Tennessee | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Taylor Cornelius (QB, Oklahoma State)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Missouri by 8[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Jerry McGinn (Big Ten) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | The Four Tops | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 51,587[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$4,295,000[4] | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN &ESPN Radio | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Clay Matvick,Dan Orlovsky andPaul Carcaterra (ESPN) Dave LaMont,Ray Bentley and Alyssa Lang (ESPN Radio) | ||||||||||||||||||
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The2018 Liberty Bowl was acollege footballbowl game between the #24Missouri Tigers of theSoutheastern Conference and the unrankedOklahoma State Cowboys of theBig 12 Conference. The 60th edition of theLiberty Bowl took place on December 31, 2018 at 2:45 p.m.EST and aired onESPN.[5] It was one of the2018–19 bowl games that concluded the2018 FBS football season.Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium inMemphis, Tennessee, hosted the game for the 54th straight year. The game was sponsored by automobile parts and accessories storeAutoZone and was officially known as theAutoZone Liberty Bowl.
The Cowboys beat the Tigers by a score of 38–33 to claim the school's first Liberty Bowl championship and their 19th bowl game overall.
The game was played betweenMissouri from theSoutheastern Conference (SEC) andOklahoma State from theBig 12 Conference.[6] The two programs had previously met 52 times, with Missouri holding a 29–23 series lead.[7] Both programs were members of theBig Eight Conference for many years, and met annually from 1960 through 1997; their most recent prior meeting had been the2014 Cotton Bowl Classic, won by Missouri.[7]
Missouri received and accepted a bid to the Liberty Bowl on December 2.[6] The Tigers entered their third Liberty Bowl with an 8–4 record (4–4 in conference).
Oklahoma State received and accepted a bid to the Liberty Bowl on December 2.[6] The Cowboys entered the bowl with a 6–6 record (3–6 in conference).
| Scoring summary | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
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| No. 23 Tigers | 3 | 13 | 3 | 14 | 33 |
| Cowboys | 7 | 7 | 21 | 3 | 38 |
| Statistics | MIZ | OKST |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 27 | 27 |
| Plays–yards | 80–637 | 80–502 |
| Rushes–yards | 42–264 | 35–169 |
| Passing yards | 373 | 333 |
| Passing:comp–att–int | 23–38–0 | 27–45–2 |
| Time of possession | 32:25 | 27:35 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Missouri | Passing | Drew Lock | 23/38, 373 yds, 3 TD |
| Rushing | Larry Rountree | 27 car, 204 yds, 1 TD | |
| Receiving | Johnathon Johnson | 9 rec, 185 yds, 1 TD | |
| Oklahoma State | Passing | Taylor Cornelius | 26/44, 336 yds, 4 TD, 2 INT |
| Rushing | Chuba Hubbard | 18 car, 145 yds, 1 TD | |
| Receiving | Tyron Johnson | 7 rec, 141 yds, 2 TD |