Quick Lane Bowl

Quick Lane Bowl
Stadium Ford Field
Location Detroit, Michigan
Operated 2014–present
Conference tie-ins Big Ten
ACC
MAC (secondary)
Payout US$1,200,000 [1]
Preceded by Little Caesars Pizza Bowl
Sponsors
Ford Motor Company (2014–present)
2017 matchup
Duke vs. Northern Illinois (Duke 36–14)
2018 matchup
Teams TBD (December 26, 2018)

The Quick Lane Bowl is a post-season college football bowl game certified by the NCAA that began play in the 2014 season. Backed by the Detroit Lions of the National Football League, the game features a bowl-eligible team from the Big Ten Conference competing against an opponent from the Atlantic Coast Conference, or a Mid-American Conference team if there are no more eligible teams from either.

The Quick Lane Bowl is played at Ford Field in Detroit as a de facto replacement for the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, and inherited its traditional December 26 scheduling. Unlike its predecessor, which placed the 8th place team in the Big Ten against the Mid-American champion, the competing teams are selected by conference representatives and not based on final rankings.[2] The Ford Motor Company serves as title sponsor of the game through its auto shop brand Quick Lane.

The inaugural game between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and North Carolina Tar Heels was played on December 26, 2014, marking the first time the two teams had ever played each other in a bowl game.[3]

History

Before its cancellation, Comerica Park was considered as a new site for the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.

Since 2002, Detroit's Ford Field had played host to the Motor City Bowl—later known as the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl for sponsorship reasons; a bowl game between the 8th placed team in the Big Ten Conference and the champion of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) which was first played in 1997 at the Pontiac Silverdome. In May 2013, ESPN reported that the Detroit Lions were planning to organize a new Big Ten bowl game at Ford Field against an Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) opponent—Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany had expressed a desire to revamp the conference's lineup of bowl games for the 2014 season to keep them "fresh".[4] In August 2013, the Lions officially confirmed the new, then-unnamed game, tentatively scheduled for December 30, 2014. The team had reached six-year deals with the Big Ten and ACC to provide tie-ins for the game; the teams playing in the bowl are to be picked by representatives from each participating conference.[2]

The announcement of the Lions' bowl game, and the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl's loss of Ford Field as a venue, left the fate of the game—which had a relatively lower-profile matchup—in jeopardy. Detroit Lions president Tom Lewand remarked that "very few" markets could adequately support hosting two major bowl games.[5][6] Organizers were open to the possibility of moving the game across the street to Comerica Park—home stadium of the Detroit Tigers, for 2014 as an outdoor game.[5] Comerica Park, the Tigers, and game sponsor Little Caesars are all owned by Ilitch Holdings.[5] However, these plans never came to fruition.[4][6]

In August 2014, the Lions announced that the Ford Motor Company had acquired title sponsorship rights to the new Detroit bowl, now known as the Quick Lane Bowl—named for its auto shop brand Quick Lane. It was also confirmed that the inaugural game would inherit the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl's traditional date of December 26, 2014, and be televised by ESPN. In a statement to Crain's Detroit Business, Motor City Bowl co-founder Ken Hoffman confirmed that "there is no Pizza Bowl for 2014. We will have to see about the future", implying that the game has been cancelled indefinitely.[6][7] On October 21, 2014, the game announced a secondary tie-in with the MAC.[8]

Game results

DateWinning TeamLosing TeamAttendanceNotes
December 26, 2014Rutgers40North Carolina2123,876notes
December 28, 2015Minnesota21Central Michigan1434,217notes
December 26, 2016Boston College36Maryland3019,117 notes
December 26, 2017Duke36Northern Illinois1420,211[9]notes

MVPs

Year MVP Team Position
2014Josh HicksRutgersRB
2015Mitch LeidnerMinnesotaQB
2016Defensive LineBoston CollegeDL
2017Daniel Jones[10]DukeQB

Most appearances

Rank Team Appearances Record
T1Boston College11–0
T1Duke11–0
T1Minnesota11–0
T1Rutgers11–0
T1Central Michigan10–1
T1Maryland10–1
T1North Carolina10–1
T1Northern Illinois10–1

Appearances by conference

Through the December 2017 playing, there have been 4 games (8 total appearances).

Rank Conference Appearances Wins Losses Pct.
T1ACC321.667
T1Big Ten321.667
3MAC202.000

Media coverage

Television

Date Network Play-by-play announcers Color commentators Sideline reporters
2017 ESPN Mike Couzens Ray Bentley Allison Williams
2016 ESPN Mark Neely Ray Bentley Alex Corddry
2015 ESPN2 Dave Neal Matt Stinchcomb Kayce Smith
2014 ESPN[11] Mark Neely Ray Bentley Niki Noto

Radio

WJR-FM and WJR (AM) are the flagship stations for the Quick Lane Bowl Radio Network. Availability between the two to carry the game rotates depending on other Detroit area sporting events.

Date Network Play-by-play announcers Color commentators Sideline reporters
2017 Quick Lane Radio Network Frank Beckmann Lomas Brown Kenny Brown
2016 Quick Lane Radio Network Frank Beckmann Lomas Brown Kenny Brown
2015 Quick Lane Radio Network Don Chiodo Brock Gutierrez Jim Costa
2014 Quick Lane Radio Network Doug Karsch Jon Jansen

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/bowl_games_bowl_schedule.html
  2. 1 2 "Detroit Lions announce agreement with ACC for Bowl Game at Ford Field". detroitlions.com. August 7, 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  3. ↑ "Rutgers will meet North Carolina in Detroit's inaugural Quick Lane Bowl". NJ.com. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  4. 1 2 Meinke, Kyle (May 21, 2013). "Report: Detroit Lions to host bowl game with Big Ten tie-in, Pizza Bowl getting dumped". Mlive.com. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  5. 1 2 3 Lacy, Eric (May 21, 2013). "Little Caesars Pizza Bowl organizers open to playing outside; Detroit Lions bowl interest confirmed". Mlive.com. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 Shea, Bill (August 19, 2014). "Little Caesars Pizza Bowl at Ford Field canceled". Crain's Detroit Business. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "Quick Lane Bowl Announced". Big Ten Conference. August 26, 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  8. ↑ "MAC, Quick Lane Bowl Agree To Backup Tie-In". Hustle Belt (SB Nation). Retrieved 2017-12-20.
  9. ↑ https://twitter.com/quicklanebowl/status/945829818121228288
  10. ↑ Goricki, David (December 26, 2017). "Duke rolls past Northern Illinois in Quick Lane Bowl". The Detroit News. Retrieved December 26, 2017.
  11. ↑ "ESPN College Football – Bowl Schedule and Commentators, College GameDay, College Football Awards, Division I Football Championship and More". ESPN Media Zone. Retrieved December 10, 2014.
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