2022 Texas Bowl (December)

The 2022 Texas Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 28, 2022, at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. The 16th annual Texas Bowl, the game featured Texas Tech from the Big 12 Conference and Ole Miss from the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game began at 8:09 p.m. CST^[4] and was aired on ESPN.^[5] It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by tax preparation software company TaxAct, the game was officially known as the TaxAct Texas Bowl.

2022 TaxAct Texas Bowl
16th Texas Bowl
Texas Tech Red Raiders Ole Miss Rebels (7–5) (8–4) Big 12 SEC 42 25 Head coach:  Joey McGuire Head coach:  Lane Kiffin
1 2 3 4 Total Texas Tech 10 16 0 16 42 Ole Miss 7 0 6 12 25
Date	December 28, 2022
Season	2022
Stadium	NRG Stadium
Location	Houston, Texas
MVP	Tyler Shough (QB, Texas Tech)[1]
Favorite	Ole Miss by 3.5
Referee	Stuart Mullins (ACC)[2]
Attendance	53,251
Payout	US$6,400,000[3]
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Roy Philpott (play-by-play), Andre Ware (analyst), and Ian Fitzsimmons (sideline)
International TV coverage
Network	ESPN Deportes
Texas Bowl  ← 2022 (Jan.) 2023 →

Teams

Consistent with conference tie-ins, the game featured teams from the Big 12 Conference and the Southeastern Conference (SEC).

This was the seventh meeting between Texas Tech and Ole Miss, with their most recent prior meeting coming in 2018. Coming into the bowl, the Rebels led the all-time series 4–2.^[6] This was the fourth bowl game played between the two teams—they met in the 1986 Independence Bowl, 1998 Independence Bowl, and 2009 Cotton Bowl Classic; all three match-ups ended in a victory for Ole Miss.

Texas Tech

Main article: 2022 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team

Texas Tech, from the Big 12, finished the regular season with a record of 7–5, led by first-year head coach Joey McGuire. Highlights of the season included finishing with a winning conference record (5–4) for the first time since 2009 and defeating Texas and Oklahoma in the same season for the first time in program history.^[7] This was the Red Raiders' third Texas Bowl appearance, having won the 2012 edition, 34–31, to Minnesota and losing the 2015 edition, 27–56, to LSU. Texas Tech began the game in air raid formation as a tribute to former head coach Mike Leach.

Ole Miss

Main article: 2022 Ole Miss Rebels football team

Ole Miss, from the SEC, finished the regular season with a record of 8–4, led by third-year head coach Lane Kiffin. The team started the season 7–0, but lost four of their next five games. This was the Rebels' first Texas Bowl appearance.

Game summary

2022 TaxAct Texas Bowl

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Texas Tech	10	16	0	16	42
Ole Miss	7	0	6	12	25

at NRG Stadium • Houston, Texas

• Date: Wednesday, December 28, 2022
• Game time: 8:00 p.m. CST
• Game weather: None (retractable roof closed)
• Game attendance: 53,251
• Referee: Stuart Mullins
• TV announcers (ESPN): Roy Philpott (play-by-play), Andre Ware (analyst), and Ian Fitzsimmons (sideline)
• Box score

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP Texas Tech Ole Miss 1 6:43 7 27 2:30 Texas Tech Tyler Shough 2-yard touchdown run, Trey Wolff kick good 7 0 1 5:26 5 75 1:17 Ole Miss Zach Evans 8-yard touchdown run, Jonathan Cruz kick good 7 7 1 3:23 7 49 1:56 Texas Tech 42-yard field goal by Trey Wolff 10 7 2 6:59 4 9 1:03 Texas Tech Tyler Shough 2-yard touchdown run, Trey Wolff kick good 17 7 2 2:13 8 18 4:11 Texas Tech 32-yard field goal by Trey Wolff 20 7 2 0:28 5 37 1:14 Texas Tech Jerand Bradley 12-yard touchdown reception from Tyler Shough, 2-point pass failed 26 7 3 9:08 10 80 3:40 Ole Miss Jordan Watkins 11-yard touchdown reception from Jaxson Dart, Jonathan Cruz kick no good 26 13 4 13:20 11 71 3:35 Texas Tech SaRodorick Thompson 1-yard touchdown run, 2-point rush failed 32 13 4 9:36 7 66 2:27 Texas Tech 26-yard field goal by Trey Wolff 35 13 4 7:35 7 75 2:01 Ole Miss Jaxson Dart 9-yard touchdown run, 2-point pass failed 35 19 4 3:10 9 80 2:30 Ole Miss Malik Heath 19-yard touchdown reception from Jaxson Dart, 2-point pass failed 35 25 4 3:03 Texas Tech Kickoff returned 44 yards for touchdown by Loic Fouonji, Trey Wolff kick good 42 25 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 42 25

Statistics

Team statistical comparison[4] Statistic Texas Tech Ole Miss First downs 27 27 First downs rushing 11 12 First downs passing 11 14 First downs penalty 5 1 Third down efficiency 7–19 5–13 Fourth down efficiency 5–6 2–7 Total plays–net yards 88–484 84–558 Rushing attempts–net yards 48–242 43–197 Yards per rush 5.0 4.3 Yards passing 242 361 Pass completions–attempts 24–40 25–41 Interceptions thrown 1 3 Punt returns–total yards 1–38 1–43 Kickoff returns–total yards 9–564 5–210 Punts–average yardage 1–38.0 1–43.0 Fumbles–lost 3–2 2–2 Penalties–yards 3–15 8–86 Time of possession 33:24 26:36

Texas Tech statistics[4] Red Raiders passing C–A Yds TD–INT Tyler Shough 24–39 242 1–1 Behren Morton 0–1 0 0–0 Red Raiders rushing Car Yds TD Tyler Shough 25 111 2 Tahj Brooks 14 90 0 Cam'Ron Valdez 1 29 0 SaRodorick Thompson 7 14 1 TEAM 1 –2 0 Red Raiders receiving Rec Yds TD Loic Fouonji 7 100 0 Jerand Bradley 8 88 1 Myles Price 3 35 0 Xavier White 3 11 0 Brady Boyd 1 9 0 Henry Teeter 1 5 0 SaRodorick Thompson 1 –6 0

Ole Miss statistics[4] Rebels passing C–A Yds TD–INT Jaxson Dart 25–41 361 2–3 Rebels rushing Car Yds TD Quinshon Judkins 23 91 0 Jaxson Dart 11 66 1 Zach Evans 8 37 1 Dayton Wade 1 3 0 Rebels receiving Rec Yds TD Malik Heath 8 137 1 Dayton Wade 3 73 0 Jonathan Mingo 3 53 0 Jordan Watkins 4 45 1 Zach Evans 4 26 0 Quinshon Judkins 2 16 0 Bralon Brown 1 11 0