The 2010 Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl St. Petersburg was the third edition of the 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...

 formerly known as the St. Petersburg Bowl. It was played at Tropicana Field

Tropicana Field

Tropicana Field is a domed stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida, which has been the home of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays since the team's inaugural season in 1998, when they were the Devil Rays. It has also served as the host stadium for the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl, an NCAA-sanctioned college...

 in St. Petersburg, Florida

St. Petersburg, Florida

St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...

, on Tuesday, December 21, 2010

2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season

The 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season, or the college football season, began on Thursday, September 2, 2010. The season progressed through the regular season and bowl season, and concluded with the Tostitos BCS National Championship Game on Monday, January 10, 2011.-Rule changes for...

 at 8 p.m. (ET). The game was telecast on ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 and featured the Southern Miss Golden Eagles

2010 Southern Miss Golden Eagles football team

The 2010 Southern Miss Golden Eagles football team represented University of Southern Mississippi in the college football season of 2010–2011. The team's head coach was Larry Fedora, who was in his third year at Southern Miss. They played their home games at M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg,...

 from Conference USA

Conference USA

Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...

 versus the Louisville Cardinals

2010 Louisville Cardinals football team

The 2010 Louisville Cardinals football team represented the University of Louisville in the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS college football season. The Cardinals were led by head coach Charlie Strong, who was in his 1st season. They played their home games at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium and were members...

 from the Big East Conference

Big East Conference

The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...

. Louisville was a member of Conference USA from 1996 through 2004.

Southern Miss

The Golden Eagles went to their ninth straight bowl game, the league's second longest active bowl streak. This was their first bowl trip to Florida in 29 years since playing Missouri

Missouri Tigers football

The Missouri Tigers football team represents the University of Missouri in NCAA Division I FBS college football. The team has competed in the North Division of the Big 12 Conference since the conference's inception in 1996...

 in the 1981 Tangerine Bowl

Tangerine Bowl

Multiple events were named Tangerine Bowl:*The Tangerine Bowl is the original name of the college football bowl game that is currently called the Capital One Bowl. It was known as the Tangerine Bowl from 1947 to 1982....

 in Orlando. Although the 2010 season proved to be a successful one on the field for the Golden Eagles, sadly the most memorable public event was when three players were shot after a fight at a club spilled outside to the parking lot. Linebacker Martez Smith suffered the most serious injury, and is paralyzed from the waist down. The Golden Eagles went 1–1 following the tragic events, winning over Houston

2010 Houston Cougars football team

The 2010 Houston Cougars football team represented the University of Houston in the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the 65th year of season play for Houston...

 but losing a shootout to Tulsa

2010 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team

The 2010 Tulsa Golden Hurricane football team represents the University of Tulsa in the 2010 college football season. The Golden Hurricane, led by fourth-year head coach Todd Graham, were members of Conference USA in the West Division and played their home games at Skelly Field at H. A. Chapman...

.

Louisville

Under first year coach Charlie Strong the Cardinals returned to their first bowl game since the end of the 2006 season when they appeared in the Orange Bowl

Orange Bowl

The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935 and celebrated its 75th playing on January 1, 2009...

. Louisville entered the contest with a 6–6 record after defeating Rutgers

2010 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team

The 2010 Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represented Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in the 2010 NCAA Division I FBS college football season. The Scarlet Knights were led by head coach Greg Schiano in his 10th season. They played their home games at Rutgers Stadium and are members...

 to become bowl eligible. The Cardinals' defense ranked 12th in the nation in total defense during the regular season. Louisville had gone to eight bowl games in nine years but had been absent from bowl play for the three seasons immediately preceding 2010.

Scoring

Scoring Play	Score
1st Quarter
USM - Austin Davis Austin Davis Austin Davis is the starting quarterback for the Southern Miss Golden Eagles college football team. A walk-on to the program, Davis redshirted the 2007 season and became the starter a year later... 32 yard pass to Quentin Pierce (Danny Hrapmann kick), 12:06	USM 7–0
USM - Desmond Johnson 62 yard run (Danny Hrapmann kick), 10:12	USM 14–0
2nd Quarter
LOU - Justin Burke 11 yard pass to Cameron Graham (Chris Philpott kick), 11:21	USM 14–7
USM - Quentin Pierce 17 yard pass to Austin Davis (Danny Hrapmann kick), 9:15	USM 21–7
LOU - Justin Burke 10 yard pass to Josh Chichester (Chris Philpott kick), 4:24	USM 21–14
LOU - Bilal Powell 6 yard run (Chris Philpott kick), 1:18	TIE 21–21
3rd Quarter
No scoring	TIE 21–21
4th Quarter
USM - Austin Davis 8 yard pass to Zeke Walters (Danny Hrapmann kick), 14:55	USM 28–21
LOU - Jeremy Wright 94 yard kickoff return (Chris Philpott kick), 14:40	TIE 28–28
LOU - Chris Philpott 36 yard kick, 6:30	LOU 31–28

Statistics

Statistics	Southern Miss	Louisville
First Downs	24	15
Total offense, plays - yards	74-386	61-286
Rushes-yards (net)	41-159	29-110
Passing yards (net)	227	176
Passes, Comp-Att-Int	21-33-0	20-32-0
Time of Possession	28:47	31:13

Game Notes

The two teams were not strangers to one another having played in the same conference for years. Southern Miss entered the game with a 18–9–1 series lead. The teams played each other in a non-conference matchup during the 2009 season with Lousiville winning 25–23 at home. This was the first time that the two schools have played each other in a bowl game.

External links

• Official site