Game Name: | Liberty Bowl |
Subheader: | 62nd Liberty Bowl |
Title Sponsor: | AutoZone |
Date Game Played: | December 31 |
Year Game Played: | 2020 |
Football Season: | 2020 |
Stadium: | Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium |
City: | Memphis, Tennessee |
Visitor School: | West Virginia University |
Visitor Name Short: | West Virginia |
Visitor Nickname: | Mountaineers |
Visitor Record: | 5–4 |
Visitor Conference: | Big 12 |
Visitor Coach: | Neal Brown |
Visitor 1Q: | 3 |
Visitor 2Q: | 7 |
Visitor 3Q: | 6 |
Visitor 4Q: | 8 |
Home School: | United States Military Academy |
Home Name Short: | Army |
Home Nickname: | Black Knights |
Home Record: | 9–2 |
Home Conference: | Independent |
Home Coach: | Jeff Monken |
Home 1Q: | 0 |
Home 2Q: | 14 |
Home 3Q: | 7 |
Home 4Q: | 0 |
Mvp: | T. J. Simmons (WR, West Virginia)[1] |
Odds: | West Virginia by 9.5[2] |
Referee: | Stuart Mullins (ACC)[3] |
Attendance: | 8,187 |
Us Network: | ESPN and ESPN Radio |
Us Announcers: | ESPN: Wes Durham (play-by-play), Roddy Jones (analyst) and Eric Wood (sideline) ESPN Radio: Jay Alter (play-by-play) and Brad Edwards (analyst) |
Intl Network: | ESPN Deportes |
The 2020 Liberty Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 31, 2020, with kickoff at 4:00 p.m. EST (3:00 p.m. local CST) on ESPN.[4] It was the 62nd edition of the Liberty Bowl, and was one of the 2020–21 bowl games concluding the 2020 FBS football season. Sponsored by automotive retailer AutoZone, the game was officially known as the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
Based on conference tie-ins, the bowl was expected to feature teams from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Big 12 Conference.[5] After a matchup of West Virginia of the Big 12 and Tennessee of the SEC was announced on December 20, the Tennessee program had to withdraw on December 21 due to positive COVID-19 testing.[6] Army, who had accepted an invitation to the Independence Bowl before it was canceled due to a lack of available teams, was named as their replacement.[7]
See main article: 2020 West Virginia Mountaineers football team. West Virginia of the Big 12 entered the Liberty Bowl with a 5–4 record, 4–4 in conference play. The Mountaineers' most recent bowl game was the 2018 Camping World Bowl, and their most recent bowl win was the 2016 Cactus Bowl (January). They had two prior appearances in the Liberty Bowl, losing in the 1964 and the 2014 editions.
See main article: 2020 Army Black Knights football team. Army, which competed as an independent, entered the Liberty Bowl with a 9–2 record. The Black Knights' most recent bowl game, and bowl win, was the 2018 Armed Forces Bowl. This edition marked Army’s first Liberty Bowl appearance.