Birmingham Bowl: What To Know

Birmingham Bowl

Memphis (8-5) vs Wake Forest (6-6)

Date/Time: Saturday, December 22nd at 11 am CT

Location: Legion Field in Birmingham, AL

Bowl history

Originated: 2006

Conference tie-ins: American Athletic, SEC or Conference USA or MAC

Last year’s result: South Florida defeated Texas Tech 38-34

Memphis bowl history

The Tigers are 4-6 all-time in bowl games, including a 21-20 loss to Iowa State in last year’s Liberty Bowl.

All but one of the teams bowl appearances have occurred since 2003.

This will be the fifth straight bowl appearance for Memphis as well as the second overall Birmingham Bowl game.

Wake Forest bowl history

Wake Forest is 8-4 in their 12 bowl games in history, which includes a 55-52 victory over Texas A&M in last season’s Belk Bowl.

The Demon Deacons have now reached three straight bowl appearances for the second time in history. 2006-2008 was the previous stretch.

This will be the first Birmingham Bowl appearance for Wake.

Series history

This is the fourth overall meeting between Memphis and Wake Forest. The series is tied at two games apiece with the last meeting occurring in 1967. In fact, all four of those meetings took place in consecutive seasons from 1964-1967.

Key player to watch for each team

Memphis: Running Back – Darrell Henderson

Wake Forest: Cornerback – Essang Bassey

Game Notes

Memphis

Memphis brings a balanced offensive attack to the table led by dynamic running back Darrell Henderson. Henderson has run for 1,909 yards along with 22 touchdowns while Patrick Taylor Jr has also rushed for over 1,000 yards. Brady White is certainly more of a game manager, however he still threw for 3,125 yards along with 25 touchdowns against eight picks. Where the Tigers struggle is on defense. In fact, they rank just 84th overall on that side of the ball. 

Wake Forest

Wake Forest is similar to Memphis in that they bring a balanced offensive attack into this matchup. Their defense is actually one of the worst in the country, ranked 116th overall. They give up 465 yards per game. They do have one of the premier cornerbacks in college football is Essang Bassey however. 

Final analysis

Both teams bring great offensive attacks plus horrible defense to this game. That means, we should have a shootout on our hands. Expect a fun, high scoring game that likely goes down to the wire. 

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– David Creekmur covers College Football/Basketball, WNBA and College Women’s Sports for Full Press Coverage. Like and follow on Twitter Follow @dmcreek Follow @FPC_College