The 2023 First Responder Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 26, 2023, at Gerald J. Ford StadiuminUniversity Park, Texas. The 14th annual First Responder Bowl featured the Texas State Bobcats of the Sun Belt Conference and the Rice Owls of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The game began at approximately 4:30 p.m. CST and was aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. Sponsored by cleanup and restoration company Servpro, the game was officially known as the Servpro First Responder Bowl.
2023 Servpro First Responder Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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14th First Responder Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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Date | December 26, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
Season | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
Stadium | Gerald J. Ford Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
Location | University Park, Texas | ||||||||||||||||||
MVP | Brian Holloway (LB, Texas State)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Favorite | Texas State by 4.5[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
Referee | Ed Ardito (CUSA)[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 26,542[4] | ||||||||||||||||||
United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
Announcers | Dave Neal (play-by-play), Aaron Murray (analyst), and Morgan Uber (sideline) | ||||||||||||||||||
International TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
Network | ESPN Deportes | ||||||||||||||||||
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The game featured the Texas State Bobcats of the Sun Belt Conference and the Rice Owls of the American Athletic Conference (The American).
This was the fifth meeting between Texas State and Rice; the series was tied at 2–2 entering the game.[5] This was the first appearance in a First Responder Bowl for both teams.
The Bobcats entered the game with a 7–5 record (4–4 in the Sun Belt), tied for second place in their conference's West Division. After starting their season with four wins in their first five games, the Bobcats lost four of their final seven games.
This was the first bowl game in the football program history of Texas State.[6]
The Owls entered the game with a 6–6 record (4–4 in The American), tied for fifth place in the conference. After starting their season 4–3, the Owls had a three game losing streak, then won their final two games to become bowl eligible.
JT Daniels began the season as Rice's starting quarterback, but left the Owls' week nine game against SMU on November 1 with a concussion after taking a shot to the helmet in the second quarter.[7] A month later, on December 1, Daniels announced that he would be retiring from football due to the multiple concussions he sustained during his career.[8][9][10]
2023 Servpro First Responder Bowl
Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
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Texas State | 14 | 10 | 14 | 7 | 45 |
Rice | 7 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
atGerald J. Ford Stadium • Dallas, Texas
Game information |
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Statistics | TXST | RICE |
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First downs | 15 | 18 |
Plays–yards | 71–300 | 57–197 |
Rushes–yards | 42–148 | 31–82 |
Passing yards | 152 | 112 |
Passing: comp–att–int | 15–29–0 | 13–26–5 |
Time of possession | 28:45 | 28:31 |
Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
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Texas State | Passing | T. J. Finley | 15/29, 152 yards |
Rushing | Ismail Mahdi | 24 carries, 122 yards | |
Receiving | Ashtyn Hawkins | 3 receptions, 55 yards | |
Rice | Passing | A. J. Padgett | 10/21, 85 yards, TD, 3 INT |
Rushing | Dean Connors | 15 carries, 64 yards, 2 TD | |
Receiving | Elijah Mojarro | 3 receptions, 35 yards |