2017 Gasparilla Bowl

The 2017 Gasparilla Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 21, 2017, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The tenth edition of the game previously known as the St. Petersburg Bowl, it featured the Temple Owls of the American Athletic Conference against the FIU Panthers of Conference USA. It began at 8:00 p.m. EST and aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2017–18 bowl games that concluded the 2017 FBS football season. The Owls defeated the Panthers by a score of 28–3.

2017 Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl
10th Gasparilla Bowl
Temple Owls FIU Panthers (6–6) (8–4) The American C-USA 28 3 Head coach:  Geoff Collins Head coach:  Butch Davis
1 2 3 4 Total Temple 0 7 7 14 28 FIU 0 0 3 0 3
Date	December 21, 2017
Season	2017
Stadium	Tropicana Field
Location	St. Petersburg, Florida
MVP	Frank Nutile (QB, Temple)
Referee	Tim O'Dey (MAC)
Attendance	16,363
Payout	US$1,300,000
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN RedVoice, LLC
Announcers	Mike Couzens, John Congemi, Kris Budden

This was the first edition of the bowl to use the Gasparilla naming, a nod to the legend of José Gaspar, a mythical pirate who is the inspiration for Tampa's Gasparilla Pirate Festival. Sponsored by lawnmower manufacturing company Bad Boy Mowers, the game was officially known as the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl. This was the last edition of the bowl played at Tropicana Field.

Teams

The game featured the Temple Owls against the FIU Panthers and was the first-ever meeting between the two schools.

Temple Owls

See also: 2017 Temple Owls football team and 2017 American Athletic Conference football season

This was Temple's first Gasparilla Bowl and the third consecutive (and seventh overall) bowl game for the Owls, extending the longest bowl streak in school history.

FIU Panthers

See also: 2017 FIU Panthers football team and 2017 Conference USA football season

This was FIU's third bowl game in school history and second Gasparilla Bowl; the Panthers had previously played in the 2011 game (when it was known as the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl), losing to Marshall by a score of 20–10. That game was the most recent bowl that the Panthers had appeared in prior to this Gasparilla Bowl, which snapped their five-year streak of not appearing in a bowl.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP TEM FIU 2 11:45 7 68 3:08 TEM Frank Nutile 4-yard touchdown run, Aaron Boumerhi kick good 7 0 3 3:12 12 62 4:13 FIU 27-yard field goal by José Borregales 7 3 3 0:28 8 75 2:44 TEM David Hood 1-yard touchdown run, Aaron Boumerhi kick good 14 3 4 7:26 5 93 1:48 TEM Isaiah Wright 45-yard touchdown reception from Frank Nutile, Aaron Boumerhi kick good 21 3 4 3:54 5 23 2:09 TEM Ryquell Armstead 5-yard touchdown run, Aaron Boumerhi kick good 28 3 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 28 3

Statistics

	1	2	3	4	Total
Owls	0	7	7	14	28
Panthers	0	0	3	0	3

Statistics	Temple	FIU
First Downs	20	20
Total offense, yards	400	252
Rushes-yards (net)	41–141	41–83
Passing yards (net)	259	169
Passes, Comp-Att-Int	19–29–0	17–34–2
Time of Possession	29:52	30:08

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Temple	Passing	Frank Nutile	19/29, 259 yds, 1 TD
	Rushing	David Hood	14 car, 76 yds, 1 TD
	Receiving	Keith Kirkwood	6 rec, 96 yds
FIU	Passing	Maurice Alexander	16/33, 162 yds, 2 INT
	Rushing	Napoleon Maxwell	11 car, 52 yds
	Receiving	Austin Maloney	3 rec, 42 yds

Source:

External links

• Box score at ESPN