2005 Liberty Bowl The 2005 AutoZone Liberty Bowl was a post - season college football bowl game between the Fresno State Bulldogs and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on December 31 , 2005 , at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis , Tennessee . In a closely contested game which went back and forth Tulsa defeated Fresno State 31 - 24 . It was the forty - seventh time the Liberty Bowl had been played and the final game of the 2005 NCAA Division I - A football season for both teams . The game between the C - USA champion Tulsa and Fresno State from the Western Athletic Conference ( WAC ) was played at neutral - site Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium ( Tulsa was once a WAC member , but joined C - USA in 2005 ) . Tulsa automatically qualified for the Liberty Bowl after defeating Central Florida in the Conference USA Football Championship . Normally Tulsa would have faced TCU , the Mountain West Conference champion , but the Liberty Bowl ' s tie - in with the Mountain West had ended after 2004 and TCU opted for the Houston Bowl . Instead , the bowl organizers invited Fresno State . Fresno ' s invite came on November 23 , 2005 , just days after it lost to then - # 1 USC 50 - 42 and ranked # 16 . The bowl was Fresno State ' s first appearance in a bowl game east of the Mississippi River . Game summary . Early in the first quarter Fresno State put together a long drive , going 54 yards in 15 plays . All but two of these plays were rushes , and none of the plays went for more than 8 yards . On the last play of the drive Fresno State faced 4th and 2 on Tulsa ' s 10 - yard line but failed to convert , coming up empty - handed after eight minutes and 27 seconds . Tulsa was unable to capitalize on the stop and punted the ball away . Starting now from their own 46 , Fresno State again drove 54 yards , this time with six plays in just under three minutes . Wendell Mathis ran the ball four times , finally scoring a touchdown on a 6 - yard run putting Fresno State up 7 - 0 . Tulsa came right back after Fresno State ' s score , moving the ball 74 yards in 3 : 20 . The centerpiece of the drive was 22 - yard touchdown run by Uril Parrish , tying the score at 7 early in the second quarter . Tulsa scored again at 8 : 15 on a 64 - yard run by Tarrion Adams , which tied his season high against Memphis and put Tulsa up 14 - 7 . Fresno State responded with another of its long drives , a 14 - play 79 - yarder capped by a 22 - yard touchdown run by Bryson Sumlin , which tied the game at 14 with 1 : 13 left in the half . Tulsa , starting from its own 19 , quickly moved the ball to Fresno State ' s 23 yard line , setting up a 41 - yard field goal by Brad DeVault to end the half . Fresno State started the third quarter with a 36 - yard kickoff return by Adam Jennings followed by a 24 - yard run by Mathis placing them at Tulsa ' s 35 - yard line . Quarterback Paul Pinegar completed a 20 - yard pass to Jaron Fairman , putting them on Tulsa ' s 15 . After this strong start , however , Fresno State could not convert and settled for a 27 - yard field goal by Kyle Zimmerman , rather than risk the possibility of turning it over on downs as they had in the opening drive of the first quarter . The field goal tied the game at 17 . The remainder of the third quarter was marked by missed opportunities and miscues . Fresno State kicker Zimmerman missed a 26 - yard field goal . Tulsa QB Smith completed a 25 - yard pass to Davis deep inside Fresno State territory , but Davis fumbled the ball . Fresno State took over , but QB Pinegar fumbled and recovered the ball on a 9 - yard sack . The quarter ended at a 17 - 17 tie . To begin the fourth quarter Fresno State continued the drive which had begun on the Tulsa turnover , and scored less than a minute in on a 21 - yard touchdown pass from Pinegar to Joe Fernandez , putting Fresno State up 24 - 17 . After two inconclusive drives Tulsa scored on a 54 - yard touchdown pass from Smith to Davis , tying the game at 24 . Tulsa scored again late in the quarter on a 4 - yard run by Smith , putting them up 31 - 24 , while Fresno State ' s efforts were frustrated by two interceptions thrown by Pinegar , the second coming on Tulsa ' s 32 - yard line with two minutes left in the game . Taking possession , Tulsa was able to run out the clock , winning 31 - 24 . Aftermath . Tulsa quarterback Paul Smith was named the bowl MVP . His 4 - yard touchdown run proved the difference in the game and gave Tulsa its first bowl victory since 1991 Freedom Bowl , 14 years ago . The loss ended a three - year bowl winning streak for Fresno State , and frustrated Fresno State quarterback Paul Pinegar ' s attempt to be the first QB to go 4 - 0 in bowl games . Several National Football League teams interviewed Fresno State coach Pat Hill during the off - season , but he elected to remain with Fresno State and received a contract extension through the end of 2010 . Tulsa head coach Steve Kragthorpe remained at Tulsa for one more season before departing to coach the University of Louisville . Immediately after the win defensive coordinator Todd Graham departed to become head coach at Rice . Just one year later Graham would return to Tulsa as head coach following Kragthorpe ' s departure . The 2005 Liberty Bowl is the only edition to feature the Conference USA champion and a Western Athletic Conference team . Beginning with the 2006 Liberty Bowl , the Conference USA champion faced a team from the Southeastern Conference ( SEC ) .