2015 Independence Bowl

2015 Camping World Independence Bowl
40th Independence Bowl
Tulsa Golden Hurricane Virginia Tech Hokies (6–6) (6–6) The American ACC 52 55 Head coach:  Philip Montgomery Head coach:  Frank Beamer
1 2 3 4 Total Tulsa 21 10 6 15 52 Virginia Tech 24 21 7 3 55
Date	December 26, 2015
Season	2015
Stadium	Independence Stadium
Location	Shreveport, Louisiana
Favorite	Va. Tech by 13½ [1]
Referee	Cooper Castleberry (Big XII)
Attendance	31,289 [2]
Payout	US$TBD
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN/Sports USA
Announcers	Dave LaMont, Ray Bentley, & Jane Slater (ESPN) Eli Gold, Phil Savage, & Darrell Rebouche (Sports USA)
Independence Bowl  ← 2014   2016 →

The 2015 Independence Bowl was a college football bowl game that was played on Saturday, December 26, 2015 at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana in the United States. The 40th annual Independence Bowl featured the Virginia Tech Hokies of the Atlantic Coast Conference against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane of the American Athletic Conference. Sponsored by Camping World, the game was officially known as the Camping World Independence Bowl. ^[3] The first half of the game, in which 76 points were scored, was the highest scoring half in college football bowl history until the second half of the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl the next year. ^{[4] [5]} Montgomery would later become the offensive coordinator and interim head coach for the Hokies in 2025.

Team selection

The game was to feature a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference against a team from the Southeastern Conference. However, college football analyst Phil Steele projected prior to the game that neither an ACC nor an SEC team would be selected for the game, projecting that the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten Conference and the San Jose State Spartans of the Mountain West Conference would be selected for the game instead. ^[6] Virginia Tech was chosen from the ACC, and Tulsa was chosen after the SEC did not have enough eligible teams.

Virginia Tech Hokies

See also: 2015 Virginia Tech Hokies football team

With the announcement that he would retire after the season, Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer took the field one last time to coach the Hokies in the Independence Bowl. Beamer has led the Hokies to 23 straight bowl appearances in 25 seasons as an FBS team (Beamer has coached at VT for a total of 29 seasons). He held a 10–12 career bowl record going into this game. The Hokies won their final game of the season over rival Virginia on a last-second INT, gaining bowl eligibility and extending Beamer's career one more game.

Tulsa Golden Hurricane

See also: 2015 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team

This was Tulsa's first bowl appearance since a 31–17 win over Iowa State in the 2012 Liberty Bowl. It was also the first career bowl appearance for first-year head coach Philip Montgomery. The Golden Hurricane program was 9–10 all-time in bowl games but was 5–3 since 2003. Montgomery would later become the offensive coordinator and interim head coach for the Hokies in 2025.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP TLS VT 1 14:14 4 75 0:46 TLS D'Angelo Brewer 48-yard touchdown run, Redford Jones kick good 7 0 1 12:53 3 63 1:21 VT Travon McMillian 51-yard touchdown run, Joey Slye kick good 7 7 1 11:54 5 75 0:59 TLS Zack Langer 2-yard touchdown run, Redford Jones kick good 14 7 1 11:42 1 75 0:12 VT Isaiah Ford 75-yard touchdown reception from Michael Brewer, Joey Slye kick good 14 14 1 9:53 4 4 0:56 VT 27-yard field goal by Joey Slye 14 17 1 5:28 8 76 2:48 VT Sam Rogers 14-yard touchdown run, Joey Slye kick good 14 24 1 2:19 9 75 3:09 TLS Bishop Louie 9-yard touchdown reception from Dane Evans, Redford Jones kick good 21 24 2 13:09 10 75 4:10 VT Bucky Hodges 16-yard touchdown run, Joey Slye kick good 21 31 2 9:09 7 80 3:05 VT Travon McMillian 1-yard touchdown run, Joey Slye kick good 21 38 2 7:11 VT Greg Stroman 67 yard punt return for a touchdown, Joey Slye kick good 21 45 2 2:26 12 65 4:45 TLS 29-yard field goal by Redford Jones 24 45 2 0:20 6 64 0:45 TLS D'Angelo Brewer 10-yard touchdown run, Redford Jones kick good 31 45 3 7:38 15 81 7:22 VT Trey Edmunds 1-yard touchdown run, Joey Slye kick good 31 52 3 4:11 1 9 0:04 TLS Dane Evans 9-yard touchdown run, Redford Jones kick failed 37 52 4 11:09 6 38 2:32 VT 41-yard field goal by Joey Slye 37 55 4 7:35 9 75 3:34 TLS Josh Atkinson 21-yard touchdown reception from Dane Evans, 2-point pass from Dane Evans to Keyarris Garrett good 45 55 4 3:47 7 76 2:08 TLS Keyarris Garrett 36-yard touchdown reception from Dane Evans, Redford Jones kick good 52 55 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 52 55

^[2]

Statistics

Statistics [2]	TLS	VT
First Downs	27	30
Total offense, plays - yards	83–563	81–598
Rushes-yards (net)	39–189	43–254
Passing yards (net)	374	344
Passes, Comp-Att-Int	27–44–0	23–38–1
Time of Possession	26:20	33:40

References

1. Odds, Los Angeles Times, December 10, 2015
2. "2015 Independence Bowl: Tulsa vs. Virginia Tech". Stat Broadcast. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
3. "Independence Bowl Confirms Camping World Is New Title Sponsor", KSLA News, July 16, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2015.
4. , Saturday Down South, December 27, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2016.
5. "Idaho outscores Colorado State in Potato Bowl". USA TODAY. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
6. Steele, Phil. "2015–2016 Bowl Projections". PhilSteele.com. Retrieved November 15, 2014.