The 2022 First Responder Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 27, 2022, at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in University Park, Texas. The 13th annual First Responder Bowl, the game featured Memphis of the American Athletic Conference and Utah State of the Mountain West Conference. The game began at 2:20 p.m. CST and was aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by cleanup and restoration company Servpro, the game was officially known as the Servpro First Responder Bowl.
Teams Based on conference tie-ins, the game was expected to feature teams from the American Athletic Conference (The American), the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), or the Big 12 Conference. Selected for the bowl were Memphis, of The American, and Utah State, of the Mountain West Conference. This was their eighth meeting; entering the game, the Tigers led the all-time series, 4–3.
Memphis Tigers
Memphis compiled a 6–6 record in regular-season play, 3–5 in conference play. Their season included a four-game winning streak followed by a four-game losing streak. The Tigers faced two ranked teams, losing to both Tulane and UCF. Entering this game, Memphis had been invited to a bowl game each season since 2014, including the 2021 Hawaii Bowl, which was canceled the day before kickoff.
Utah State Aggies
Utah State also recorded a 6–6 regular-season record; they went 5–3 in conference play. After starting the season 1–4, the Aggies then won five of their remaining seven games to become bowl eligible. They faced, and lost to, two ranked FBS teams, Alabama and BYU. This was the Aggies' 10th bowl appearance since the 2011 season.
Game summary
Statistics
+Team statistical comparisonStatisticMemphisUtah StateFirst downs 26 15First downs rushing 11 7First downs passing 14 7First downs penalty 1 1Third down efficiency 7–14 5–13Fourth down efficiency 0–0 0–1Total plays–net yards 76–430 58–261Rushing attempts–net yards 47–146 35–126Yards per rush 3.1 3.6Yards passing 9.8 5.9Pass completions–attempts 20–29 15–23Interceptions thrown 0 3 Punt returns–total yards 2–8 1–1Kickoff returns–total yards 1–26 4–121Punts–average yardage 4–148 5–188Fumbles–lost 1–1 0–0Penalties–yards 5–55 8–54Time of possession 34:16 23:54
+Memphis statisticsTigers passing Seth Henigan 20–29 284 3–0Tigers rushing Jevyon Ducker 13 832 Asa Martin 10 430 Gabriel Rogers 2 260 Sutton Smith 6 200 Roc Taylor 1 50 Joseph Scates 1 40 TEAM 3 -90 Seth Henigan 11 -260Tigers receiving Eddie Lewis 5 83 2 Gabriel Rogers 4 58 0 Roc Taylor 4 48 0 Joseph Scates 1 42 0 Jevyon Ducker 1 15 0 Koby Drake 1 12 0 Asa Martin 1 10 0 Caden Prieskorn 2 9 1 Cameron Wright 1 7 0
+Utah State statisticsAggies passing Bishop Davenport 7–9 100 1–1 Cooper Legas 7–12 34 0–1 Levi Williams 1–2 1 0–1Aggies rushing Calvin Tyler Jr. 16 79 0 Cooper Legas 12 25 0 Levi Williams 2 15 0 Terrell Vaughn 2 6 0 Bishop Davenport 1 1 0 Jordan Wilmore 2 0 0Aggies receiving Brian Cobbs 6 79 1 Terrell Vaughn 4 34 0 Josh Sterzer 2 12 0 Otto Tia 1 9 0 Calvin Tyler Jr. 2 1 0
References