INDEPENDENCE BOWL

The 'PetroSun Independence Bowl' is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, so named because it was inaugurated in the United States bicentennial year, 1976.
For its first five years, the game pitted the champion of the Southland Conference, then a Division I conference before the NCAA split the division into Bowl (Division I-A before 2006) and Championship (Division I-AA prior to 2006) subdivisions, against an at-large opponent. It then moved to inviting two at-large teams, until 1995 when it began featuring a Southeastern Conference school against an at-large opponent.
Since 1998 the game has normally featured a matchup between teams representing the Big 12 Conference and the SEC. Teams from other conferences are included only if one of those leagues does not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill its spot, such as in 2004 when Miami (Ohio) played instead of a SEC squad.
The game's previous title sponsors have included AB Electrolux Home Products (now Husqvarna AB) Poulan and Weed Eater products from 1990 to 1996, Newell Rubbermaid's Sanford brand of writing products from 1998 until 2000, and MainStay Investments from 2001 to 2003. In January 2005, in what was widely perceived as a publicity stunt, the Deja Vu chain of "gentlemen's clubs" offered to become the title sponsor. The offer was rejected.
The Independence Bowl's three-year search for a title sponsor ended on August 21, 2006. PetroSun Inc., a Phoenix, Arizona-based company that provides services and products to suppliers of oil and gas, has agreed to become the bowl's sponsor. The deal runs from 2006 to 2008 with an option for 2009.

Contents

Previous results

MVP(s)

See also

External links

Notes

Previous results

Date Played	Winning Team		Losing Team
December 13, 1976	'McNeese State'	'20'	Tulsa	16
December 17, 1977	'Louisiana Tech'	'24'	Louisville	14
December 16, 1978	'East Carolina'	'35'	Louisiana Tech	13
December 15, 1979	'Syracuse'	'31'	McNeese State	7
December 13, 1980	'Southern Miss'	'16'	McNeese State	14
December 12, 1981	'Texas A&M'	'33'	Oklahoma State	16
December 11, 1982	'Wisconsin'	'14'	Kansas State	3
December 10, 1983	'Air Force'	'9'	Mississippi	3
December 15, 1984	'Air Force'	'23'	Virginia Tech	7
December 21, 1985	'Minnesota'	'20'	Clemson	13
December 20, 1986	'Mississippi'	'20'	Texas Tech	17
December 19, 1987	'Washington'	'24'	Tulane	12
December 23, 1988	'Southern Miss'	'38'	UTEP	18
December 16, 1989	'Oregon'	'27'	Tulsa	24
December 15, 1990 [1]	''Louisiana Tech''	34	''Maryland''	34
December 29, 1991	'Georgia'	'24'	Arkansas	15
December 31, 1992	'Wake Forest'	'39'	Oregon	35
December 31, 1993	'Virginia Tech'	'45'	Indiana	20
December 28, 1994	'Virginia'	'20'	TCU	10
December 29, 1995	'LSU'	'45'	Michigan State	26
December 31, 1996	'Auburn'	'32'	Army	29
December 28, 1997	'LSU'	'27'	Notre Dame	9
December 31, 1998	'Mississippi'	'35'	Texas Tech	18
December 31, 1999	'Mississippi'	'27'	Oklahoma	25
December 31, 2000 [2]	'Mississippi State'	'43'	Texas A&M	41
December 27, 2001	'Alabama'	'14'	Iowa State	13
December 27, 2002	'Mississippi'	'27'	Nebraska	23
December 31, 2003	'Arkansas'	'27'	Missouri	14
December 28, 2004 [3]	'Iowa State'	'17'	Miami (Ohio)	13
December 30, 2005	'Missouri'	'38'	South Carolina	31
December 28, 2006	'Oklahoma State'	'34'	Alabama	31

MVP(s)

Date played	MVP(s)	Team	Position
December 13, 1976	Terry McFarland	McNeese State	QB
	Terry Clark	Tulsa	CB
December 17, 1977	Keith Thibodeaux	Louisiana Tech	QB
	Otis Wilson	Louisville	LB
December 16, 1978	Theodore Sutton	East Carolina	FB
	Zack Valentine	East Carolina	DE
December 15, 1979	Joe Morris	Syracuse	RB
	Clay Carroll	McNeese State	DT
December 13, 1980	Stephen Starring	McNeese State	QB
	Jerald Baylis	Southern Miss	NG
December 12, 1981	Gary Kubiak	Texas A&M	QB
	Mike Green	Oklahoma State	LB
December 11, 1982	Randy Wright	Wisconsin	QB
	Tim Krumrie	Wisconsin	NG
December 10, 1983	Marty Louthan	Air Force	QB
	Andre Townsend	Mississippi	DT
December 15, 1984	Bart Weiss	Air Force	QB
	Scott Thomas	Air Force	S
December 21, 1985	Rickey Foggie	Minnesota	QB
	Bruce Holmes	Minnesota	LB
December 20, 1986	Mark Young	Mississippi	QB
	James Mosley	Texas Tech	DE
December 19, 1987	Chris Chandler	Washington	QB
	David Rill	Washington	LB
December 23, 1988	James Henry	Southern Miss	PR/CB
December 16, 1989	Bill Musgrave	Oregon	QB
	Chris Oldham	Oregon	DB
December 15, 1990	Mike Richardson	Louisiana Tech	RB
	Lorenza Baker	Louisiana Tech	LB
December 29, 1991	Andre Hastings	Georgia	FL
	Torray Evans	Georgia	LB
December 31, 1992	Todd Dixon	Wake Forest	SE
	Herman O'Berry	Oregon	CB
December 31, 1993	Maurice DeShazo	Virginia Tech	DB
	Antonio Banks	Virginia Tech	S
December 28, 1994	Mike Groh	Virginia	QB
	Mike Frederick	Virginia	DE
December 29, 1995	Kevin Faulk	LSU	RB
	Gabe Northern	LSU	DE
December 31, 1996	Dameyune Craig	Auburn	QB
	Takeo Spikes	Auburn	LB
	Rickey Neal	Auburn	LB
December 28, 1997	Rondell Mealey	LSU	RB
	Arnold Miller	LSU	DE
December 31, 1998	Romaro Miller	Mississippi	QB
	Kendrick Clancy	Mississippi	DL
December 31, 1999	Tim Strickland	Mississippi	CB
	Josh Heupel	Oklahoma	QB
December 31, 2000	Ja'Mar Toombs	Texas A&M	RB
	Willie Blade	Mississippi State	DT
December 27, 2001	Seneca Wallace	Iowa State	QB
	Matt Word	Iowa State	LB
	Waine Bacon	Alabama	S
December 27, 2002	Eli Manning	Mississippi	QB
	Chris Kelsay	Nebraska	DE
December 31, 2003	Cedric Cobbs	Arkansas	RB
	Caleb Miller	Arkansas	LB
December 28, 2004	Bret Meyer	Iowa State	QB
	Nick Moser	Iowa State	DB
December 30, 2005	Brad Smith	Missouri	QB
	Marcus King	Missouri	CB
December 28, 2006	Dantrell Savage	Oklahoma State	RB
	Jeremy Nethon	Oklahoma State	LB

See also

List of college bowl games

External links

★ Official Website of the Independence Bowl

★ The Razorback Legacy - 2003 Independence Bowl photos

Notes

1. Game ended in a tie.
2. Overtime
3. Miami University received a bid because the SEC did not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all of its allotted bowl slots in 2004, even before the University of South Carolina chose to decline a bowl bid after a massive brawl between players from that school and archrival Clemson University during their November 20, 2004, game.