# 2021 Birmingham Bowl

The 2021 Birmingham Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 28, 2021, with kickoff at 12:00 p.m. EST (11:00 a.m. local CST) and televised on ESPN. It was the 15th edition of the Birmingham Bowl (after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), and was one of the 2021–22 bowl games concluding the 2021 FBS football season. Sponsored by the TicketSmarter ticket sales company, the game was officially known as the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl. This was the first edition of the bowl played at Protective Stadium.

## Teams

Consistent with conference tie-ins, the bowl features teams from the American Athletic Conference (AAC or "The American") and the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
This was the seventh meeting between Auburn and Houston; previous to the game, the Tigers led the all-time series, 5–1.

### Houston Cougars
## Game summary

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 20 Houston | 7 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 17 |
| Auburn | 0 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 13 |
at Protective Stadium • Birmingham, Alabama
* Date: Tuesday, December 28, 2021
* Game time: 11:00 a.m. CST
* Game attendance: 47,100
* TV announcers (ESPN): Taylor Zarzour (play-by-play), Eric Mac Lain (analyst), and Taylor Davis (sideline)
* Box score
Scoring summary :
| Quarter | Time | Drive | Drive | Drive | Team | Scoring information | Score | Score |
| Quarter | Time | Plays | Yards | TOP | Team | Scoring information | Houston | Auburn |
| 1 | 8:46 | 12 | 87 | 6:14 | Houston | Alton McCaskill 5-yard touchdown reception from Clayton Tune, Dalton Witherspoon kick good | 7 | 0 |
| 2 | 6:58 | 9 | 44 | 4:10 | Houston | 52-yard field goal by Dalton Witherspoon | 10 | 0 |
| 2 | 3:10 | 8 | 67 | 3:48 | Auburn | 27-yard field goal by Ben Patton | 10 | 3 |
| 3 | 12:12 | 7 | 57 | 2:48 | Auburn | 35-yard field goal by Ben Patton | 10 | 6 |
| 3 | 3:52 | 11 | 78 | 6:20 | Auburn | Kobe Hudson 12-yard touchdown reception from T. J. Finley, Ben Patton kick good | 10 | 13 |
| 4 | 3:27 | 8 | 80 | 3:20 | Houston | Jake Herslow 26-yard touchdown reception from Clayton Tune, Dalton Witherspoon kick good | 17 | 13 |
| "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | | |

## Statistics
### Team statistics

Team statistical comparison :
| Statistic | Houston | Auburn |
| First downs | 19 | 15 |
| First downs rushing | 6 | 6 |
| First downs passing | 12 | 8 |
| First downs penalty | 1 | 1 |
| Third down efficiency | 6–14 | 4–15 |
| Fourth down efficiency | 1–2 | 1–3 |
| Total plays–net yards | 67–398 | 66–352 |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 26–115 | 29–125 |
| Yards per rush | 4.4 | 4.3 |
| Yards passing | 283 | 227 |
| Pass completions–attempts | 26–41 | 19–37 |
| Interceptions thrown | 2 | 0 |
| Punt returns–total yards | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 4–52 | 2–42 |
| Punts–average yardage | 4–35.8 | 6–38.3 |
| Fumbles–lost | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Penalties–yards | 6–34 | 3–35 |
| Time of possession | 29:50 | 30:10 |

### Individual statistics

Houston statistics :
| Cougars passing ||||||
| | C–A | Yds | TD–INT |
| Clayton Tune | 26–40 | 283 | 2–1 |
| Seth Green | 0–1 | 0 | 0–1 |
| Cougars rushing ||||||
| | Car | Yds | TD |
| Alton McCaskill | 14 | 78 | 0 |
| Clayton Tune | 7 | 43 | 0 |
| Ta'Zhawn Henry | 2 | −2 | 0 |
| TEAM | 3 | −6 | 0 |
| Cougars receiving ||||||
| | Rec | Yds | TD |
| Nathaniel Dell | 10 | 150 | 0 |
| Jake Herslow | 5 | 65 | 1 |
| Christian Trahan | 3 | 30 | 0 |
| Jeremy Singleton | 2 | 17 | 0 |
| Alton McCaskill | 4 | 15 | 1 |
| Ta'Zhawn Henry | 2 | 6 | 0 |
Auburn statistics :
| Tigers passing ||||||
| | C–A | Yds | TD–INT |
| T. J. Finley | 19–37 | 227 | 1–0 |
| Tigers rushing ||||||
| | Car | Yds | TD |
| Tank Bigsby | 16 | 96 | 0 |
| Malcolm Johnson Jr. | 2 | 24 | 0 |
| Jarquez Hunter | 5 | 17 | 0 |
| Ja'Varrius Johnson | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| John Samuel Shenker | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| TEAM | 1 | −3 | 0 |
| Demetris Robertson | 1 | −5 | 0 |
| T. J. Finley | 2 | −7 | 0 |
| Tigers receiving ||||||
| | Rec | Yds | TD |
| Tank Bigsby | 5 | 68 | 0 |
| Kobe Hudson | 4 | 57 | 1 |
| John Samuel Shenker | 5 | 54 | 0 |
| Ja'Varrius Johnson | 1 | 20 | 0 |
| Demetris Robertson | 2 | 15 | 0 |
| Shedrick Jackson | 2 | 13 | 0 |