The 2021 Birmingham Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 28, 2021, with kickoff at 12:00 p.m. EST (11:00 a.m. local CST) and televised on ESPN. It was the 15th edition of the Birmingham Bowl (after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), and was one of the 2021–22 bowl games concluding the 2021 FBS football season. Sponsored by the TicketSmarter ticket sales company, the game was officially known as the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl. This was the first edition of the bowl played at Protective Stadium.
Teams Consistent with conference tie-ins, the bowl features teams from the American Athletic Conference (AAC or "The American") and the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
This was the seventh meeting between Auburn and Houston; previous to the game, the Tigers led the all-time series, 5–1.
Auburn Tigers
Houston Cougars
Game summary
Statistics Team statistics +Team statistical comparisonStatisticHoustonAuburnFirst downs 19 15First downs rushing 6 6First downs passing 12 8First downs penalty 1 1Third down efficiency 6–14 4–15Fourth down efficiency 1–2 1–3Total plays–net yards 67–398 66–352Rushing attempts–net yards 26–115 29–125Yards per rush 4.4 4.3Yards passing 283 227Pass completions–attempts 26–41 19–37Interceptions thrown 2 0Punt returns–total yards 0–0 0–0Kickoff returns–total yards 4–52 2–42Punts–average yardage 4–35.8 6–38.3Fumbles–lost 2–0 2–0Penalties–yards 6–34 3–35Time of possession 29:50 30:10 Individual statistics +Houston statisticsCougars passing Clayton Tune 26–40 283 2–1 Seth Green 0–1 0 0–1Cougars rushing Alton McCaskill 14 78 0 Clayton Tune 7 43 0 Ta'Zhawn Henry 2 −2 0 TEAM 3 −6 0Cougars receiving Nathaniel Dell 10 150 0 Jake Herslow 5 65 1 Christian Trahan 3 30 0 Jeremy Singleton 2 17 0 Alton McCaskill 4 15 1 Ta'Zhawn Henry 2 6 0 +Auburn statisticsTigers passing T. J. Finley 19–37 227 1–0Tigers rushing Tank Bigsby 16 96 0 Malcolm Johnson Jr. 2 24 0 Jarquez Hunter 5 17 0 Ja'Varrius Johnson 1 2 0 John Samuel Shenker 1 1 0 TEAM 1 −3 0 Demetris Robertson 1 −5 0 T. J. Finley 2 −7 0Tigers receiving Tank Bigsby 5 68 0 Kobe Hudson 4 57 1 John Samuel Shenker 5 54 0 Ja'Varrius Johnson 1 20 0 Demetris Robertson 2 15 0 Shedrick Jackson 2 13 0
Notes
References
Externals links Game statistics at statbroadcast.com