Tonight’s Texas Bowl between the Baylor Bears and Illinois Fighting Illini will be the fifth installment of the Texas Bowl. Held at Reliant Stadium in Houston, the Texas Bowl replaced the Houston Bowl, which had existed from 2000-2005.
The inaugural Texas Bowl featured one of current top running backs in the NFL – Ray Rice. Rice was named the MVP of the 2006 Texas Bowl as Rutgers defeated Kansas State by a 37-10 margin.
In 2007, a familiar face took home the MVP honors. TCU quarterback Andy Dalton led the Horned Frogs to a 20-13 victory over the University of Houston.
The third Texas Bowl, held in 2008, wasn’t much of a contest. Rice slammed Western Michigan 38-14, while Rice quarterback Chase Clement took home MVP honors.
Last year, in the fourth Texas Bowl, the Navy Midshipmen pasted Missouri 35-13, with a Texas Bowl record 69,441 in attendance. Navy quarterback Ricky Dobbs took home the MVP honors, making him the third consecutive quarterback to do so.
Baylor and Illinois are set to kick off the fifth Texas Bowl tonight at 6 PM EST. Robert Griffin III will look to become the fourth consecutive quarterback to win the MVP award as he looks to lead his Bears to victory.