GameAbove Sports Bowl

Last updated
GameAbove Sports Bowl
GameAbove Sports Bowl.png
Stadium Ford Field
Location Detroit, Michigan
Operated2014–present
Conference tie-ins Big Ten, MAC [1]
Previous conference tie-ins ACC (2014–2019)
Payout US$2 million (2019) [2]
Preceded by Little Caesars Pizza Bowl
Sponsors
Ford Motor Company (2014–2023)
GameAbove Sports (2024–present)
2023 matchup
Minnesota vs. Bowling Green
(Minnesota 30–24)
2024 matchup
Pittsburgh vs. Toledo (December 26, 2024)

The GameAbove Sports Bowl is a post-season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that began play in the 2014 season. The game was previously known as the Quick Lane Bowl with Ford Motor Company serving as title sponsor of the game for 10 years, through its auto shop brand Quick Lane. That sponsorship ended in June 2024. In October 2024, strategic investment company GameAbove, through its GameAbove Sports brand, was announced as the game's new title sponsor.

Contents

Backed by the Detroit Lions of the National Football League, the game features a bowl-eligible team from the Big Ten Conference competing against an opponent from the Mid-American Conference (MAC). The bowl is played at Ford Field in Detroit and was created as a de facto replacement for the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl (last played in 2013), and inherited its traditional December 26 scheduling. Unlike its predecessor, which featured the eighth-place team in the Big Ten against the MAC champion, competing teams are selected by conference representatives and are not based on final rankings. [3]

History

Since 2002, Detroit's Ford Field had played host to the Motor City Bowl—later known as the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl for sponsorship reasons; a bowl game between the 8th placed team in the Big Ten Conference and the champion of the Mid-American Conference (MAC), which was first played in 1997 at the Pontiac Silverdome. In May 2013, ESPN reported that the Detroit Lions were planning to organize a new Big Ten bowl game at Ford Field against an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opponent—Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany had expressed a desire to revamp the conference's lineup of bowl games for the 2014 season to keep them "fresh". [4] In August 2013, the Lions officially confirmed the new, then-unnamed game, tentatively scheduled for December 30, 2014. The team had reached six-year deals with the Big Ten and ACC to provide tie-ins for the game; the teams playing in the bowl are to be picked by representatives from each participating conference. [3]

Ford Field, prior venue of the defunct Little Caesars Pizza Bowl and current venue of the Quick Lane Bowl Ford-Field-September-10-2006.jpg
Ford Field, prior venue of the defunct Little Caesars Pizza Bowl and current venue of the Quick Lane Bowl

The announcement of the Lions' bowl game, and the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl's loss of Ford Field as a venue, left the fate of the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl—which had a relatively lower-profile matchup—in jeopardy. Detroit Lions president Tom Lewand remarked that "very few" markets could adequately support hosting two major bowl games. [5] [6] Organizers were open to the possibility of moving the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl across the street to Comerica Park, home stadium of the Detroit Tigers, for 2014 as an outdoor game. [5] Comerica Park, the Tigers, and game sponsor Little Caesars are all owned by Ilitch Holdings. [5] However, these plans never came to fruition. [4] [6]

In August 2014, the Lions announced that the Ford Motor Company had acquired title sponsorship rights to the new Detroit bowl, making it the Quick Lane Bowl—named for its auto shop brand, Quick Lane. It was also confirmed that the inaugural edition of the bowl would inherit the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl's traditional date of December 26, and be televised by ESPN. In a statement to Crain's Detroit Business , Motor City Bowl co-founder Ken Hoffman confirmed that "there is no Pizza Bowl for 2014. We will have to see about the future", implying that the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl had been cancelled indefinitely; [6] [7] the December 2013 playing proved to be the final edition of the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.

On October 21, 2014, bowl organizers announced a secondary tie-in with the MAC. [8] The inaugural edition of the bowl was played on December 26, 2014, between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights of the Big Ten and North Carolina Tar Heels of the ACC. [9]

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 edition of the bowl was not played; although a specific reason was not given by organizers. [10]

In June 2024, Quick Lane sponsorship ended. [11] For several months, the organizers used "Detroit Bowl" as a working title. On October 8, 2024, strategic investment company GameAbove, through its GameAbove Sports brand, was announced as the game's new title sponsor, making it the GameAbove Sports Bowl. [12]

Game results

DateBowl nameWinning teamLosing teamAttendance
December 26, 2014 Quick Lane Bowl Rutgers 40 North Carolina 2123,876
December 28, 2015 Quick Lane Bowl Minnesota 21 Central Michigan 1434,217
December 26, 2016 Quick Lane Bowl Boston College 36 Maryland 3019,117
December 26, 2017 Quick Lane Bowl Duke 36 Northern Illinois 1420,211
December 26, 2018 Quick Lane Bowl Minnesota 34 Georgia Tech 1027,228
December 26, 2019 Quick Lane Bowl Pittsburgh 34 Eastern Michigan 3034,765
2020Quick Lane BowlCanceled [13]  
December 27, 2021 Quick Lane Bowl Western Michigan 52 Nevada 2422,321
December 26, 2022 Quick Lane Bowl New Mexico State 24 Bowling Green 1922,987
December 26, 2023 Quick Lane Bowl Minnesota 30 Bowling Green 2428,521
December 26, 2024 GameAbove Sports Bowl Pittsburgh vs. Toledo  

Source: [14]

MVPs

2017 Quick Lane Bowl MVP Daniel Jones Daniel Jones NFL Draft.png
2017 Quick Lane Bowl MVP Daniel Jones
YearMVPTeamPositionRef.
2014Josh HicksRutgersRB [15]
2015Mitch LeidnerMinnesotaQB [16]
2016 Defensive Line Boston CollegeDL [17]
2017 Daniel Jones DukeQB [18]
2018 Mohamed Ibrahim MinnesotaRB [19]
2019 Kenny Pickett PittsburghQB [20]
2021Sean TylerWestern MichiganRB [21]
2022 Diego Pavia New Mexico StateQB [22]
2023 Darius Taylor MinnesotaRB [23]

Most appearances

Updated for the December 2024 edition (10 games, 20 total appearances).

Teams with multiple appearances
RankTeamAppearancesRecord
1 Minnesota 33–0
2 Pittsburgh 21–0
Bowling Green 20–2

December 2024 participant

Teams with a single appearance

Won (5): Boston College, Duke, New Mexico State, Rutgers, Western Michigan
Lost (7): Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, Northern Illinois
TBD (1): Toledo

Appearances by conference

Updated for the December 2024 edition (10 games, 20 total appearances).

ConferenceRecordAppearances by season
GamesWLWin pct.WonLost
MAC 715.16720212015, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023
ACC 632.6002016, 2017, 20192014, 2018
Big Ten 541.8002014, 2015, 2018, 20232016
Independents 1101.0002022 
Mountain West 101.000 2021

December 2024 participant

Game records

TeamRecord, Team vs. OpponentYear
Most points scored (one team)52, Western Michigan vs. Nevada2021
Most points scored (losing team)30, shared by:
Maryland vs. Boston College
Eastern Michigan vs. Pittsburgh

2016
2019
Most points scored (both teams)76, Western Michigan vs. Nevada2021
Fewest points allowed10, Minnesota vs. Georgia Tech2018
Largest margin of victory28, Western Michigan vs. Nevada2021
Total yards524, Rutgers vs. North Carolina2014
Rushing yards352, Western Michigan vs. Nevada2021
Passing yards361, Pittsburgh vs. Eastern Michigan2019
First downs27, shared by:
North Carolina vs. Rutgers
Duke vs. Northern Illinois
Eastern Michigan vs. Pittsburgh

2014
2017
2019
Fewest yards allowed242, Nevada vs. Western Michigan2021
Fewest rushing yards allowed65, Duke vs. Northern Illinois2017
Fewest passing yards allowed26, Bowling Green vs. Minnesota2023
IndividualRecord, Player (Team)Year
All-purpose yards281, Sean Tyler (Western Michigan)2021
Touchdowns (all-purpose)2, most recently:
Jaxson Kincaide (Western Michigan)

2021
Rushing yards224, Mohamed Ibrahim (Minnesota)2018
Rushing touchdowns2, most recently:
Jaxson Kincaide (Western Michigan)

2021
Passing yards361, Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh)2019
Passing touchdowns3, Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh)2019
Receiving yards165, Maurice Ffrench (Pittsburgh)2019
Receiving touchdowns2, Tyler Johnson (Minnesota)2018
Tackles14, Lorenzo Waters (Rutgers)2014
Sacks2, most recently:
Jah Joyner (Minnesota)

2023
Interceptions1, by several players
Long PlaysRecord, Player (Team)Year
Touchdown run62 yds., Ty Johnson (Maryland)2016
Touchdown pass96 yds., Kenny Pickett to Maurice Ffrench (Pittsburgh)2019
Kickoff return100 yds., Sean Tyler (Western Michigan)2021
Punt return27 yds., Le'Meke Brockington (Minnesota)2023
Interception return30 yds., Darnell Savage (Maryland)2016
Fumble return7 yds., Truman Gutapfel (Boston College)2016
Punt59 yds., Julian Diaz (Nevada)2021
Field goal51 yds., Alex Kessman (Pittsburgh)2019

Media coverage

The bowl has been televised by ESPN or ESPN2 since its inception.

See also

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References

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  12. "GameAbove Sports Announced as New Title Sponsor for College Football Bowl Game at Ford Field". Detroit Lions . 2024-10-08. Retrieved 2024-10-08.
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  18. Goricki, David (December 26, 2017). "Duke rolls past Northern Illinois in Quick Lane Bowl". The Detroit News . Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  19. Schutte, Dustin (December 2018). "Minnesota RB Mohamed Ibrahim named Quick Lane Bowl MVP following career performance". saturdaytradition.com. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  20. @Pitt_FB (December 26, 2019). "Kenny ❄️ Pickett MVP of the Quick Lane Bowl 27-for-39, 361 yards, 3 TD #H2P" (Tweet) via Twitter.
  21. @quicklanebowl (December 27, 2021). "The 2021 Quick Lane Bowl MVP: Sean Tyler" (Tweet). Retrieved December 27, 2021 via Twitter.
  22. @quicklanebowl (December 26, 2022). "The 2022 Quick Lane Bowl MVP: Diego Pavia. Diego finished with 2 touchdowns on the day with over 167 yards passing and 65 rushing yards!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 26, 2022 via Twitter.
  23. Ruane, Blake (December 26, 2023). "Quick Lane Bowl Recap: Darius Taylor takes over to power Minnesota past Bowling Green". thedailygopher.com. Retrieved December 26, 2023.