2017 Liberty Bowl

The 2017 Liberty Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game played on December 30, 2017, at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee. The 59th edition of the Liberty Bowl featured the Iowa State Cyclones of the Big 12 Conference against the Memphis Tigers of the American Athletic Conference. It was one of the 2017–18 bowl games concluding the 2017 FBS football season. Sponsored by automobile parts and accessories store AutoZone, it was officially known as the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.

2017 AutoZone Liberty Bowl
59th Liberty Bowl
Iowa State Cyclones Memphis Tigers (7–5) (10–2) Big 12 The American 21 20 Head coach:  Matt Campbell Head coach:  Mike Norvell AP Coaches CFP 18 19 20
1 2 3 4 Total Iowa State 7 7 7 0 21 Memphis 7 3 10 0 20
Date	December 30, 2017
Season	2017
Stadium	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
Location	Memphis, Tennessee
MVP	Allen Lazard (WR, Iowa State)[1]
Favorite	Memphis by 1.5
Referee	Duane Heydt (ACC)
Halftime show	The Isley Brothers
Attendance	57,266[2]
Payout	US$4,700,000[3]
United States TV coverage
Network	ABC/ESPN Radio
Announcers	TV: Mike Patrick, Tommy Tuberville, Paul Carcaterra Radio: Bill Roth, Barrett Jones, Dawn Davenport[4]
Liberty Bowl  < 2016 2018 >

This was the last event that ESPN Play-by-Play announcer, Mike Patrick, called.^[5]

Teams

The game featured conference tie-ins from the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12 Conference. However, the SEC did not have enough teams to fill its contractual obligations, so the bowl invited the Memphis Tigers of the American Athletic Conference, the team that occupies the Liberty Bowl during the regular season, thus making the contest—which was the Tigers' first appearance in this bowl—a Memphis home game. This is the third Liberty Bowl for Iowa State, having previously played in the 1972 and 2012 editions of the game.

Iowa State Cyclones

Main articles: 2017 Iowa State Cyclones football team and 2017 Big 12 Conference football season

Memphis Tigers

Main articles: 2017 Memphis Tigers football team and 2017 American Athletic Conference football season

Game summary

Scoring summary

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP ISU MEM 1 13:09 6 65 1:51 ISU Hakeem Butler 52-yard touchdown reception from Kyle Kempt, Garrett Owens kick good 7 0 1 06:00 2 40 0:16 MEM Anthony Miller 10-yard touchdown reception from Riley Ferguson, Riley Patterson kick good 7 7 2 04:28 12 55 6:05 ISU Joel Lanning 2-yard touchdown run, Garrett Owens kick good 14 7 2 00:00 8 49 1:18 MEM 34-yard field goal by Riley Patterson 14 10 3 13:22 4 66 1:38 MEM Phil Mayhue 36-yard touchdown reception from Riley Ferguson, Riley Patterson kick good 14 17 3 04:28 11 85 5:46 ISU Allen Lazard 5-yard touchdown reception from Kyle Kempt, Garrett Owens kick good 21 17 3 02:16 6 49 2:12 MEM 30-yard field goal by Riley Patterson 21 20 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 21 20

Statistics

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cyclones	7	7	7	0	21
Tigers	7	3	10	0	20

Statistics	ISU	MEM
First downs	22	17
Plays–yards	80-346	59-339
Rushes–yards	42-32	26-53
Passing yards	314	286
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	24-38-0	21-33-0
Time of possession	37:49	22:11

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
ISU	Passing	Kyle Kempt	24/38, 314 yds
	Rushing	David Montgomery	24 car, 52 yds
	Receiving	Allen Lazard	10 rec, 142 yds, 1 TD
MEM	Passing	Riley Ferguson	21/33, 286 yds
	Rushing	Patrick Taylor Jr.	17 car, 68 yds
	Receiving	Phil Mayhue	5 rec, 85 yds, 1 TD