The 2022 Birmingham Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 27, 2022, at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama. The 16th annual Birmingham Bowl, the game featured Coastal Carolina of the Sun Belt Conference and East Carolina of the American Athletic Conference. The game began at 5:50 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 ticket sales company TicketSmarter, the game was officially known as the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl.
Teams This was the first time that Coastal Carolina and East Carolina faced each other.
Coastal Carolina
Coastal Carolina compiled a 9–2 regular season record, 6–2 in conference play. They had a non-conference game against Virginia canceled. The Chanticleers qualified for the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game, which they lost to Troy, thus entered the bowl with a 9–3 overall record. Coastal Carolina did not face any ranked opponents during the season.
East Carolina
East Carolina played to a 7–5 regular-season record, 4–4 in conference play. They faced one ranked opponent during the season, losing to NC State in their first game. The Pirates played in, and lost, the January 2015 edition of the Birmingham Bowl. They also played in, and lost, the December 2006 edition of the game, when it was known as the PapaJohns.com Bowl. They played in the 2022 Birmingham Bowl and defeated Coastal Carolina University, securing their first bowl victory since 2013.
Officials The officials for the game were from the Big 12 Conference and were:
Referee: Tutashinda Salaam
Umpire: Sheldon Davis
Head Line Judge: Bradford Edwards
Line Judge: David Young
Field Judge: Ed Vinzant
Side Judge: Rick Ockey
Back Judge: Joel Wetzel
Center Judge: Darren Winkley
Alternate: Marvel July
Replay Official: Dee Anderson
Communicator: Terry Porter
Game summary
Statistics
+Team statistical comparisonStatisticCoastal CarolinaEast CarolinaFirst downs 20 24First downs rushing 8 5First downs passing 8 13First downs penalty 4 6Third down efficiency 5–12 5–11Fourth down efficiency 0–1 2–4Total plays–net yards 63–337 71–486Rushing attempts–net yards 38–125 32–172Yards per rush 3.3 5.4Yards passing 212 314Pass completions–attempts 17–25 27–39Interceptions thrown 0 0Punt returns–total yards 1–12 1–0Kickoff returns–total yards 7–108 5–145Punts–average yardage 4–38.3 1–0.0Fumbles–lost 4–3 0–0Penalties–yards 11–98 11–130Time of possession 27:45 32:15
+Coastal Carolina statisticsChanticleers passing Jarrett Guest 6–11 136 1–0 Grayson McCall 10–12 67 0–0 Bryce Archie 1–2 9 0–0Chanticleers rushing Reese White 11 67 1 Braydon Bennett 4 29 0 CJ Beasley 5 13 1 Grayson McCall 4 12 1 Bryce Archie 1 6 0 Logan Adkins 1 2 0 Jarrett Guest 10 -6 0Chanticleers receiving Sam Pinckney 4 79 0 Tyler Roberts 1 47 1 TJ Ivy Jr. 2 29 0 Reese White 1 15 0 Tyson Mobley 4 12 0 Dami'on Thompson 1 9 0 Patrick McSweeney 1 8 0 Jared Brown 2 7 0 CJ Beasley 1 6 0
+East Carolina statisticsPirates passing Holton Ahlers 26–38 300 5–0 C.J. Johnson 1–1 14 0–0Pirates rushing Keaton Mitchell 22 127 1 Holton Ahlers 7 48 1 Kamarro Edmonds 2 -2 0Pirates receiving C.J. Johnson 7 83 1 Isaiah Winstead 6 72 2 Jaylen Johnson 5 66 1 Shane Calhoun 2 37 1 Taji Hudson 1 15 0 Keaton Mitchell 2 15 0 Holton Ahlers 1 14 0 Brock Spalding 1 5 0 Kamarro Edmonds 1 4 0 Tyler Savage 1 3 0
References