# Houston Bowl

The Houston Bowl was an NCAA-sanctioned Division I-A college football bowl game that was played annually in Houston, Texas, from 2000 to 2005. For its first two years, the game was known as the galleryfurniture.com Bowl, named for the website of the sponsor, a Houston furniture chain operated by Jim McIngvale, better known as "Mattress Mack". In 2002, the Houston Bowl was born and later named the EV1.net Houston Bowl, after sponsor EV1.net, for the remainder of the game's existence.

## History

The Houston Bowl marked the return of bowl games to Houston for the first time since the final Bluebonnet Bowl in 1987. The bowl played in two locations during its tenure. For the 2000 and 2001 games, Houston's Astrodome was the venue. In 2002, the game moved to Reliant Stadium, the home of the NFL's Houston Texans.
The bowl initially had tie-ins with the Big 12 Conference and Conference USA. The Big 12 extended their commitment in 2002 and again in 2005. Big 12 teams played in each of the six bowls, compiling a 4–2 record.
After the 2005 game, the bowl failed to return EV1.net as a sponsor. Game management was turned over to the Texans, and the NFL Network changed the game's name to the Texas Bowl. While the 2006 playing of the Texas Bowl maintained continuity of having a Houston-based bowl game, NCAA records treat the Texas Bowl and Houston Bowl as separate games.

## Game results

| Date | Winner | Winner | Loser | Loser | Notes |
| December 27, 2000 | East Carolina | 40 | Texas Tech | 27 | notes |
| December 28, 2001 | Texas A&M | 28 | TCU | 9 | notes |
| December 27, 2002 | Oklahoma State | 33 | Southern Miss | 23 | notes |
| December 30, 2003 | Texas Tech | 38 | Navy | 14 | notes |
| December 29, 2004 | Colorado | 33 | UTEP | 28 | notes |
| December 31, 2005 | No. 14 TCU | 27 | Iowa State | 24 | notes |

## MVPs

| Date played | MVPs | Team | Position |
| December 27, 2000 | David Garrard | East Carolina | QB |
| December 27, 2000 | Bernard Williams | East Carolina | DT |
| December 28, 2001 | Byron Jones | Texas A&M | DB |
| December 28, 2001 | Joe Weber | Texas A&M | RB |
| December 27, 2002 | Rashaun Woods | Oklahoma State | WR |
| December 27, 2002 | Kevin Williams | Oklahoma State | DT |
| December 30, 2003 | B. J. Symons | Texas Tech | QB |
| December 30, 2003 | Adell Duckett | Texas Tech | DL |
| December 29, 2004 | Joel Klatt | Colorado | QB |
| December 29, 2004 | Tom Hubbard | Colorado | S |
| December 31, 2005 | Jeff Ballard | TCU | QB |
| December 31, 2005 | Jason Berryman | Iowa State | DL |

## Appearances by team

| Rank | Team | Appearances | Record | Win % |
| T1 | [[TCU Horned Frogs football|TCU]] | 2 | 1–1 | .500 |
| T1 | [[Texas Tech Red Raiders football|Texas Tech]] | 2 | 1–1 | .500 |
| T2 | [[Colorado Buffaloes football|Colorado]] | 1 | 1–0 | 1.000 |
| T2 | [[East Carolina Pirates football|East Carolina]] | 1 | 1–0 | 1.000 |
| T2 | [[Oklahoma State Cowboys football|Oklahoma State]] | 1 | 1–0 | 1.000 |
| T2 | [[Texas A&M Aggies football|Texas A&M]] | 1 | 1–0 | 1.000 |
| T2 | [[Iowa State Cyclones football|Iowa State]] | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |
| T2 | [[Navy Midshipmen football|Navy]] | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |
| T2 | [[Southern Miss Golden Eagles football|Southern Miss]] | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |
| T2 | [[UTEP Miners football|UTEP]] | 1 | 0–1 | .000 |

## Appearances by conference

| Rank | Conference | Appearances | Record | Win % | # of Teams | Teams |
| 1 | Big 12 | 6 | 4–2 | .667 | 5 | Texas Tech (1–1) Colorado (1–0) Oklahoma State (1–0) Texas A&M (1–0) Iowa State (0–1) |
| 2 | C-USA | 3 | 1–2 | .333 | | East Carolina (1–0) Southern Miss (0–1) TCU (0–1) |
| T3 | MWC | 1 | 1–0 | 1.000 | | TCU (1–0) |
| T3 | Independent | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | | Navy (0–1) |
| T3 | WAC | 1 | 0–1 | .000 | | UTEP (0–1) |