The 2003 Houston Bowl was a post-season college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 bowl game

Bowl game

In North America, a bowl game is commonly considered to refer to one of a number of post-season college football games. Prior to 2002, bowl game statistics were not included in players' career totals and the games were mostly considered to be exhibition games involving a payout to participating...

 between the and the Texas Tech Red Raiders on December 30, 2003, at Reliant Stadium

Reliant Stadium

Reliant Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium, in Houston, Texas, USA. Reliant Stadium has a seating capacity of 71,500, a total square footage of with of natural grass playing surface....

 in Houston, Texas

Houston, Texas

Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...

. It was the fourth time the Houston Bowl

Houston Bowl

The Houston Bowl is a now-defunct NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was played annually in Houston, Texas from 2000 to 2005. The game was originally known as the galleryfurniture.com Bowl in 2000 and 2001...

 was played and the final game of the 2003 NCAA Division I FBS football season for both teams. Texas Tech defeated Navy 38-14.

The Houston Bowl was Navy's first bowl game since the 1996 Aloha Bowl

1996 Aloha Bowl

The 1996 Aloha Bowl was a college football bowl game played December 25, 1996 in Honolulu, Hawaii. It was part of the 1996 NCAA Division I-A football season. It featured the , and the ....

, in which Navy defeated 42-38. Texas Tech, representing the Big 12 conference

Big 12 Conference

The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference of ten schools located in the Central United States, with its headquarters located in Las Colinas, a community in the Dallas, Texas suburb of Irving...

, was playing in its fourth straight bowl game, stretching back to the inaugural Houston Bowl

2000 Galleryfurniture.com Bowl

The 2000 Galleryfurniture.com Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game between the Texas Tech University Red Raiders from the Big 12 and the East Carolina University Pirates from Conference USA at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas on December 27, 2000. It was the inaugural game in the...

(then the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl).