Independence Bowl: Story, Cast and Series Facts

Story and premise

The Independence Bowl is a post-season NCAA-sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that is played annually at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The Independence Bowl was 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 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.

From 1998 to 2009 the game normally featured a matchup between teams representing the Big 12 Conference and the SEC. Teams from other conferences were included only if one of those leagues did not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill its spot, such as in 2004 when Miami (Ohio) played instead of an SEC squad. In 2008 neither the SEC nor the Big 12 had enough bowl-eligible teams to fill their respective spots resulting in a matchup of Louisiana Tech and Northern Illinois. From 2010–2011, the Independence Bowl held the third selection from the Mountain West Conference and the seventh selection from the Atlantic Coast Conference. It was announced that in 2012, the Mountain West Conference team would be replaced by the tenth selection from the Southeastern Conference.

One of the most memorable games in Independence Bowl History was the 2000 "snow bowl" game between Texas A&M and Mississippi State. The game was originally publicized as a reunion game, since Mississippi State coach Jackie Sherrill had served as A&M's coach for six seasons in the 1980s and led them to three conference titles. However, the weather quickly dominated the storyline as a rare and significant snowstorm hit Shreveport. In the midst of the snow, Mississippi State rallied to an overtime win over A&M. The 2013 game featured the Arizona Wildcats of the Pacific-12 Conference.

Series details

• Title: Independence Bowl
• Format: Sports
• Language: English
• Premiere date: 1976-12-13
• Status in TVmaze: Running
• Network listed by TVmaze: ESPN
• Network country: United States
• Typical episode runtime: 203 minutes
• TVMaze ID: 10439

Cast and credited roles

• Clay Matvick — Play-by-Play Commentator
• Chase Daniel — Analyst
• Harry Lyles Jr. — Reporter
• Kevin Connors — Play-by-Play Announcer
• Lowell Galindo — Play-by-Play Announcer
• Marilyn Payne — Sideline Reporter
• Tori Petry — Sideline Reporter
• Rocky Boiman — Analyst
• Fozzy Whittaker — Analyst

Seasons in the TVmaze catalogue

• Season 1976: premiered 1976-12-13; final listed air date 1976-12-13.
• Season 2015: premiered 2015-12-26; final listed air date 2015-12-26.
• Season 2016: premiered 2016-12-26; final listed air date 2016-12-26.
• Season 2021: premiered 2021-12-18; final listed air date 2021-12-18; episode order: 1.
• Season 2022: premiered 2022-12-23; final listed air date 2022-12-23; episode order: 1.
• Season 2023: premiered 2023-12-16; final listed air date 2023-12-16; episode order: 1.
• Season 2024: premiered 2024-12-28; final listed air date 2024-12-28; episode order: 1.
• Season 2025: premiered 2025-12-30; final listed air date 2025-12-30; episode order: 1.
• Season 2026: premiered 2026-12-22; final listed air date 2026-12-22; episode order: 1.

Source and licence

Adapted from Independence Bowl on TVmaze. The synopsis is reproduced as plain text; catalogue facts, cast and season records are selected and reformatted. This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, following the TVmaze API licence. Network and web-channel credits identify the service listed in this source; they do not establish current streaming availability.