2022 Birmingham Bowl


The 2022 Birmingham Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 27, 2022, at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama. The 16th annual Birmingham Bowl, the game featured [2022 2022 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team|Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team|Coastal Carolina] of the Sun Belt Conference and [2022 2022 East Carolina Pirates football team|East Carolina Pirates football team|East Carolina] of the American Athletic Conference. The game began at 5:50 p.m. CST and was aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by ticket sales company TicketSmarter, the game was officially known as the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl.

Teams

This was the first time that Coastal Carolina and East Carolina faced each other.

Coastal Carolina

Coastal Carolina compiled a 9–2 regular season record, 6–2 in conference play. They had a non-conference game against Virginia canceled. The Chanticleers qualified for the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game, which they lost to Troy, thus entered the bowl with a 9–3 overall record. Coastal Carolina did not face any ranked opponents during the season.

East Carolina

East Carolina played to a 7–5 regular-season record, 4–4 in conference play. They faced one ranked opponent during the season, losing to NC State in their first game. The Pirates played in, and lost, the January 2015 edition of the Birmingham Bowl. They also played in, and lost, the December 2006 edition of the game, when it was known as the PapaJohns.com Bowl. They played in the 2022 Birmingham Bowl and defeated Coastal Carolina University, securing their first bowl victory since 2013.

Officials

The officials for the game were from the Big 12 Conference and were:
Referee: Tutashinda Salaam
Umpire: Sheldon Davis
Head Line Judge: Bradford Edwards
Line Judge: David Young
Field Judge: Ed Vinzant
Side Judge: Rick Ockey
Back Judge: Joel Wetzel
Center Judge: Darren Winkley
Alternate: Marvel July
Replay Official: Dee Anderson
Communicator: Terry Porter

Statistics

StatisticCoastal CarolinaEast Carolina
First downs2024
First downs rushing85
First downs passing813
First downs penalty46
Third down efficiency5–125–11
Fourth down efficiency0–12–4
Total plays–net yards63–33771–486
Rushing attempts–net yards38–12532–172
Yards per rush3.35.4
Yards passing212314
Pass completions–attempts17–2527–39
Interceptions thrown00
Punt returns–total yards1–121–0
Kickoff returns–total yards7–1085–145
Punts–average yardage4–38.31–0.0
Fumbles–lost4–30–0
Penalties–yards11–9811–130
Time of possession27:4532:15