Report: Teams Set For 2023 Independence Bowl
Shreveport's college bowl game, the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl, is set for a Saturday prime time matchup this year. The game is slotted for December 16th at 8:15pm, and will be a prime time game on ESPN.
You can get tickets for this year's Indy Bowl right here.
The great thing about the Independence Bowl is that you never know when the next Super Bowl champion will be playing in Shreveport. Like the Eli Manning and Kevin Faulk before, the players on these teams could go on to the NFL to win the ultimate prize.
This afternoon, Action Sports' Brett McMurphy is reporting that Texas Tech will face Cal in the 2023 Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Texas Tech has been a rollercoaster of a team in 2023. They came out of the gate with a very disappointing loss at Wyoming, followed up by a pretty close loss to Oregon. Tech worked out some things against Tarelton State, before losing on the road to West Virginia.
At that point, they were 1-3, and a bowl game seemed out of reach.
But they were able to rally for in-state wins against Houston and Baylor, before dropping a pair of tough games to Kansas State and BYU. They recovered by winning against TCU, and then secured their signature win of the season, when they went into Kansas and beat the 16th ranked Jayhawks.
After that, they beat UCF to secure bowl eligibility, before facing the buzzsaw that is currently Texas Longhorn football.
Texas Tech is always sneaky with their talent. We're talking about a program that has put multiple NFL Draft picks out, and one of the best players currently in the NFL. In recent years, Tech has had Tyree Wilson go #7 overall in 2023 and Jordyn Brooks go #27 overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. Other active NFL players include Jakeem Grant, Zech McPhearson, Broderick Washington, and Jack Anderson...among others.
Oh, not to mention 2-time NFL MVP and 2-time Super Bowl Champion, Patrick Mahomes, who went to Texas Tech.
Players from Texas Tech who could move on to the NFL in the future include quarterback Behren Morton and running back Tahj Brooks. Two players to definitely watch for.
California Golden Bears
Things looked really bleak for Cal in early November. The team had a 3-6 record, and with some tough games ahead, it looked like they were going to miss a bowl invite for 2023. At that point, Cal was going to need to beat all three of their next opponents; a Washington State team that had been ranked during the season, on the road at Stanford, and then they had to go to UCLA to beat a 7-win rival. Since we're reading about Cal being in a bowl, you know they won all three to become eligible.
The last game they needed, against their rivals in UCLA, in an away game, they won impressively 33-7...a little "going away present" for UCLA, who leaves for the Big 10 next year.
When it comes to NFL caliber talent coming from Cal, they haven't had many big names recently, but they do have some superstars in their history. Players like Aaron Rodgers, Jared Goff, and Cam Jordan were all Golden Bears.
This current Cal team may not have a lot of NFL talent on it, but a plyer like Patrick McMorris or Jackson Sirmon could find a spot in professional football.
Again, you can get tickets for this year's Indy Bowl right here.