| 2023 Wasabi Fenway Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 2nd Fenway Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 28, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Fenway Park | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Boston, Massachusetts | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Thomas Castellanos (QB, Boston College)[1] & Kam Arnold (LB, Boston College)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | SMU by 10.5[3] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Kevin Mar (Big 12)[4] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | Boston College Marching Band, SMU Mustang Band | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 16,238 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Chris Cotter (play-by-play), Mark Herzlich (analyst), and Sherree Burruss (sideline) | ||||||||||||||||||
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The 2023 Fenway Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 28, 2023, at Fenway ParkinBoston, Massachusetts. The Fenway Bowl game featured SMU from the American Athletic Conference (The American) and Boston College from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The game began at approximately 11:00 a.m. EST and aired on ESPN.[5][6] The Fenway Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by cloud storage company Wasabi Technologies and was officially known as the Wasabi Fenway Bowl.
Consistent with conference tie-ins, the game featured Boston College from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and SMU from the American Athletic Conference (The American). This was the second meeting between Boston College and SMU, their prior meeting being a 31–29 SMU victory in 1986.[7]
The Eagles and Mustangs entered the game due to become conference opponents starting with the 2024 season, as SMU committed to join the ACC.[8]
Boston College finished the regular season 6–6, going 3–5 in ACC conference play. This was the Eagles' first appearance in a bowl game since the 2020 Birmingham Bowl, which they lost.
SMU finished the regular season 11–2, going 8–0 in conference play in The American. The Mustangs defeated the then 22nd-ranked Tulane, 26–14, in the AAC Championship Game, the program's first conference title since 1984 when it won a share of the Southwest Conference title.[9] The Mustangs entered the bowl 17th in the AP poll and 24th in the College Football Playoff rankings.
This was the Mustangs' second-straight bowl appearance, having appeared in the 2022 New Mexico Bowl, which they lost.
2023 Wasabi Fenway Bowl
| Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. 24 SMU | 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Boston College | 3 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 23 |
atFenway Park • Boston, Massachusetts
| Game information |
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| Statistics | SMU | BC |
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| First downs | 22 | 20 |
| Plays–yards | 79–309 | 59–365 |
| Rushes–yards | 31–118 | 41–263 |
| Passing yards | 191 | 102 |
| Passing: comp–att–int | 24–48–0 | 11–18–1 |
| Time of possession | 32:30 | 27:28 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
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| SMU | Passing | Kevin Jennings | 24/48, 191 yards, 1 TD |
| Rushing | Kevin Jennings | 10 carries, 51 yards | |
| Receiving | Jake Bailey | 6 receptions, 54 yards | |
| Boston College | Passing | Thomas Castellanos | 11/18, 102 yards, 1 INT |
| Rushing | Thomas Castellanos | 21 carries, 155 yards, 2 TD | |
| Receiving | Jaedn Skeete | 2 receptions, 40 yards |
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