2024 Birmingham Bowl | |||||||||
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18th Birmingham Bowl | |||||||||
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Date | December 27, 2024 | ||||||||
Season | 2024 | ||||||||
Stadium | Protective Stadium | ||||||||
Location | Birmingham, Alabama | ||||||||
Referee | (Big Ten) [1] | ||||||||
United States TV coverage | |||||||||
Network | ESPN | ||||||||
Announcers | Dave Neal (play-by-play), Aaron Murray (analyst), and Ashley ShahAhmadi (sideline) | ||||||||
The 2024 Birmingham Bowl is a college football bowl game that is scheduled to be played on December 27, 2024, at Protective Stadium located in Birmingham, Alabama. The eighteenth annual Birmingham Bowl game will feature a team from the American Athletic Conference or the Southeastern Conference against a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The game is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. CST and will air on ESPN. [2] [3] The Birmingham Bowl will be one of the 2024–25 bowl games concluding the 2024 FBS football season.
Consistent with conference tie-ins, the game will feature teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Both Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech accepted bowl invitations on December 8. Vanderbilt entered 6-6 while Georgia Tech entered 7-5. Both teams share a historic rivalry. This will be their first meeting since 2016.
Vanderbilt finished the regular season 6–6, a significant improvement from their 2–10 season in 2023. The Commodores received widespread attention after they knocked off No. 1 Alabama 40–35, which marked the beginning of a three-game winning streak that saw Vanderbilt receive its first AP poll ranking since 2013. [4] Vanderbilt also notched upsets over Virginia Tech, [5] Kentucky, [6] and Auburn (the final of which granted Vanderbilt bowl eligibility for the first time since 2018 [7] ) while only losing by one-score to Georgia State, [8] No. 7 Missouri, [9] No. 5 Texas, [10] and LSU. [11] Vanderbilt lost its regular season finale in a rivalry game against Tennessee.
Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Georgia Tech | - | - | - | - | 0 |
Vanderbilt | - | - | - | - | 0 |
at Protective Stadium • Birmingham, Alabama
Statistics | GT | VAN |
---|---|---|
First downs | ||
Plays–yards | – | – |
Rushes–yards | – | – |
Passing yards | ||
Passing: comp–att–int | –– | –– |
Time of possession |
Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
---|---|---|---|
Georgia Tech | Passing | ||
Rushing | |||
Receiving | |||
Vanderbilt | Passing | ||
Rushing | |||
Receiving |
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members include the flagship public universities of 12 states, three additional public land-grant universities, and one private research university. The conference is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. The SEC participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I in sports competitions. In football, it is part of the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A.
The Music City Bowl is a post-season American college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that has been played in Nashville, Tennessee, since 1998. Since 2020, it has been sponsored by TransPerfect and is officially known as the TransPerfect Music City Bowl. Previous title sponsors include American General Life & Accident (1998), HomePoint.com (1999), Gaylord Entertainment (2002–2003), both Gaylord Entertainment and Bridgestone (2004–2009), and Franklin American Mortgage Company (2010–2019). From 2014 through 2019, the bowl had tie-ins with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big Ten Conference, and Southeastern Conference (SEC); for 2020 through 2025, the bowl has tie-ins with the Big Ten and SEC.
The Auburn Tigers football program represents Auburn University in the sport of American college football. Auburn competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Western Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. For its first 32 seasons, the championship game pitted the East Division regular season champion against the West Division regular season champion. With the SEC eliminating football divisions after the 2023 season, the game now features the top two teams in the conference standings. The game is regularly played on the first Saturday of December, and has been held in Atlanta since 1994, first at the Georgia Dome, and at Mercedes-Benz Stadium since 2017.
The Alabama Crimson Tide football program represents the University of Alabama in the sport of American football. The team competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The team is currently led by Kalen DeBoer. The Crimson Tide is among the most storied and decorated football programs in NCAA history. Since beginning play in 1892, the program claims 18 national championships, including 13 wire-service national titles in the poll-era, and five other titles before the poll-era. From 1958 to 1982, the team was led by Hall of Fame coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, who won six national titles with the program. Alabama then had a dominant run under head coach Nick Saban between 2007 and 2023, resulting in six further national titles. The team's rallying cry is "Roll Tide!".
The 2007 Georgia Bulldogs football team competed on behalf of the University of Georgia in American football against teams from other colleges and universities. The Bulldogs tied for first place in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) but lost a tie-breaker with the University of Tennessee. The team finished its season by defeating the Hawaii Warriors in the 2008 Sugar Bowl. This was the Georgia Bulldogs' seventh season under the guidance of head coach Mark Richt.
The 2009 Southeastern Conference football season started on Thursday, September 3 as conference member South Carolina visited North Carolina State. The conference's other 11 teams began their respective 2009 season of NCAA Division I FBS competition on Saturday, September 5. All teams started their season at home except Kentucky, who started their season on neutral turf at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio against Miami (OH), Georgia, who traveled to Oklahoma State, and Alabama, who traveled to the Georgia Dome to face Virginia Tech in the Chick-fil-A College Kickoff for the second straight year.
The 2013 Southeastern Conference football season began on August 29 with Ole Miss visiting Vanderbilt, and will conclude with the Allstate Sugar Bowl and/or the BCS National Championship Game in early January. The 2013 season was considered to be a "bridge" season and was not based on any past or future formatting. New inter-division rivalry games between Texas A&M-South Carolina and Arkansas-Missouri did not take place until the 2014 season.
The 2014 Southeastern Conference football season began on August 28 with Texas A&M visiting South Carolina on the new SEC Network. This season will feature new inter-division rivalry games: Texas A&M-South Carolina and Arkansas-Missouri.
The 2015 Southeastern Conference football season represented the 83rd season of SEC football taking place during the 2015 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on September 3 with South Carolina defeating North Carolina on ESPN. This was the fourth season for the SEC under realignment that took place in 2012 adding Texas A&M and Missouri from the Big 12 Conference. The SEC is a Power Five conference under the College Football Playoff format along with the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12 Conference, the Big Ten Conference, and the Pac-12 Conference.
The 2016 Southeastern Conference football season was the 84th season of SEC football and took place during the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on September 1 with Tennessee defeating Appalachian State on the SEC Network. This is the fifth season for the SEC under realignment that took place in 2012 adding Texas A&M and Missouri from the Big 12 Conference. The SEC is a Power Five conference under the College Football Playoff format along with the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12 Conference, the Big Ten Conference, and the Pac-12 Conference.
The 2019 Southeastern Conference football season represented the 87th season of SEC football taking place during the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season began on August 29, 2019 and ended with the 2019 SEC Championship Game on December 7, 2019. The SEC is a Power Five conference under the College Football Playoff format along with the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12 Conference, the Big Ten Conference and the Pac-12 Conference. For the 2019 season the SEC has 14 teams divided into two divisions of seven each, named East and West.
The 2019 Alabama Crimson Tide football team represented the University of Alabama in the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. This was the Crimson Tide's 125th overall season, 86th as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC), and 28th within the SEC's Western Division. They played their home games at Bryant–Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and were led by 13th-year head coach Nick Saban.
The 2019 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University in the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Commodores played their home games at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, and competed in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They were led by sixth-year head coach Derek Mason.
The 2019 Georgia Bulldogs football team represented the University of Georgia in the 2019 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bulldogs played their home games at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, and competed in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They were led by fourth-year head coach Kirby Smart.
The 2020 Southeastern Conference football season was the 88th season of SEC football taking place during the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The season was scheduled to begin on September 3, 2020 and end with the 2020 SEC Championship Game on December 5, 2020. The SEC is a Power Five conference under the College Football Playoff. The entire schedule was originally released on August 7, 2019. However, the 2020 season had to be shortened due to complications from the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the season beginning September 26 and ending with the 2020 SEC Championship Game on December 19.
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The 2023 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University in the Eastern Division of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) during the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Commodores were led by Clark Lea in his third year as their head coach. Following their blowout loss to Ole Miss, the Commodores became ineligible for a bowl selection for the 5th consecutive season. This was the last year of the Eastern and Western divisions of the SEC, as Texas and Oklahoma joined the SEC in 2024. The Vanderbilt Commodores football team drew an average home attendance of 25,509 in 2023.
The 2024 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represents Vanderbilt University as a member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) during the 2024 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Commodores are led by Clark Lea in his fourth year as their head coach.