The GameAbove Sports Bowl was 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.
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.
History Beginning in 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". 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, with the teams playing in the bowl being picked by representatives from each participating conference.
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. 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. Comerica Park, the Tigers, and game sponsor Little Caesars are all owned by Ilitch Holdings. However, these plans never came to fruition.
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. 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. 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.
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.
In June 2024, Quick Lane sponsorship ended. 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.
The 2024 edition of the bowl took six overtime periods to decide, setting a new record for the most overtime periods in an FBS bowl game. It broke the prior record of five overtime periods, which had been set just two days prior in the 2024 Hawaii Bowl.
On February 10, 2026, it was reported that the bowl would be cancelled after 11 editions of the game.
Game results DateBowl name Winning team Losing teamAttendance December 26, 2014 Quick Lane Bowl Rutgers 40 North Carolina 21 23,876 December 28, 2015 Quick Lane Bowl Minnesota 21 Central Michigan 14 34,217 December 26, 2016 Quick Lane Bowl Boston College 36 Maryland 30 19,117 December 26, 2017 Quick Lane Bowl Duke 36 Northern Illinois 14 20,211 December 26, 2018 Quick Lane Bowl Minnesota 34 Georgia Tech 10 27,228 December 26, 2019 Quick Lane Bowl Pittsburgh 34 Eastern Michigan 30 34,7652020 Quick Lane Bowl Canceled December 27, 2021 Quick Lane Bowl Western Michigan 52 Nevada 24 22,321 December 26, 2022 Quick Lane Bowl New Mexico State 24 Bowling Green 19 22,987 December 26, 2023 Quick Lane Bowl Minnesota 30 Bowling Green 24 28,521 December 26, 2024 GameAbove Sports Bowl Toledo 48 Pittsburgh 46 26,219 December 26, 2025 GameAbove Sports Bowl Northwestern 34 Central Michigan 7 27,857 Source:
MVPs
YearMVPTeamPositionRef. 2014 Josh Hicks Rutgers RB 2015 Mitch Leidner Minnesota QB 2016 Defensive Line Boston College DL 2017 Daniel Jones Duke QB 2018 Mohamed Ibrahim Minnesota RB 2019 Kenny Pickett Pittsburgh QB 2021 Sean Tyler Western Michigan RB 2022 Diego Pavia New Mexico State QB 2023 Darius Taylor Minnesota RB 2024 Junior Vandeross III Toledo WR 2025 Griffin Wilde Northwestern WR
Most appearances Updated through the December 2025 edition (11 games, 22 total appearances).
Teams with multiple appearances RankTeamAppearancesRecord1 Minnesota 3 3–02 Pittsburgh 2 1–1 Central Michigan 2 0–2 Bowling Green 2 0–2
Teams with a single appearance Won (7): Boston College, Duke, New Mexico State, Northwestern, Rutgers, Toledo, Western Michigan
Lost (6): Eastern Michigan, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Nevada, North Carolina, Northern Illinois
Appearances by conference Updated through the December 2025 edition (11 games, 22 total appearances).
ConferenceRecordAppearances by seasonGamesWLWin pct.WonLost MAC 8 2021, 2024 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2025 Big Ten 6 2014, 2015, 2018, 2023, 2025 2016 ACC 6 2016, 2017, 2019 2014, 2018, 2024 Independents 1 2022 Mountain West 1 2021
Independent appearances: New Mexico State (2022)
Game records TeamRecord, Team vs. OpponentYearMost points scored (one team) 52, Western Michigan vs. Nevada 2021Most points scored (losing team) 46, Pittsburgh vs. Toledo 2024Most points scored (both teams) 94, Toledo vs. Pittsburgh 2024Fewest points allowed 7, Northwestern vs. Central Michigan 2025Largest margin of victory 28, Western Michigan vs. Nevada 2021Total yards 524, Rutgers vs. North Carolina 2014Rushing yards 352, Western Michigan vs. Nevada 2021Passing yards 361, Pittsburgh vs. Eastern Michigan 2019First downs 30, Pittsburgh vs. Toledo 2024Fewest yards allowed 242, Nevada vs. Western Michigan 2021Fewest rushing yards allowed 65, Duke vs. Northern Illinois 2017Fewest passing yards allowed 26, Bowling Green vs. Minnesota 2023IndividualRecord, Player (Team)YearAll-purpose yards 281, Sean Tyler (Western Michigan) 2021Touchdowns (all-purpose) 2, most recently:Griffin Wilde (Northwestern) 2025Rushing yards 224, Mohamed Ibrahim (Minnesota) 2018Rushing touchdowns 2, most recently:Jaxson Kincaide (Western Michigan) 2021Passing yards 361, Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh) 2019Passing touchdowns 3, shared by:Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh)Preston Stone (Northwestern) 20192025Receptions 12, shared by:Maurice Ffrench (Pittsburgh)Junior Vandeross III (Toledo) 20192024Receiving yards 194, Junior Vandeross III (Toledo) 2024Receiving touchdowns 2, shared by:Tyler Johnson (Minnesota)Griffin Wilde (Northwestern) 20182025Tackles 14, Lorenzo Waters (Rutgers) 2014Sacks 3, Aidan Hubbard (Northwestern) 2025Interceptions 1, by several players Long PlaysRecord, Player (Team)YearTouchdown run 62 yds., Ty Johnson (Maryland) 2016Touchdown pass 96 yds., Kenny Pickett to Maurice Ffrench (Pittsburgh) 2019Kickoff return 100 yds., Sean Tyler (Western Michigan) 2021Punt return 27 yds., Le'Meke Brockington (Minnesota) 2023Interception return 58 yds., Darius Alexander (Toledo) 2024 Fumble return 7 yds., Truman Gutapfel (Boston College) 2016 Punt 59 yds., Julian Diaz (Nevada) 2021Field goal 57 yds., Ben Sauls (Pittsburgh) 2024
Media coverage The bowl has been televised by ESPN or ESPN2 since its inception.
See also Sports in Detroit
References
External links