2012 Liberty Bowl The 2012 AutoZone Liberty Bowl was a post - season American college football bowl game held on December 31 , 2012 at the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis , Tennessee in the United States . The 54th edition of the Liberty Bowl began at 2 : 30 p . m . CST and aired on ESPN . It featured the Iowa State Cyclones from the Big 12 Conference against the Conference USA champion Tulsa Golden Hurricane and was the final game of the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season for both teams . The Golden Hurricane advanced to the game by virtue of winning the 2012 Conference USA Football Championship Game , while the Cyclones were also eligible for the bowl game due to their 6 – 6 regular - season record . The two teams had previously met on September 1 at the Cyclones ' home of Jack Trice Stadium in Ames , Iowa ; Iowa State won that game , 38 – 23 . The pre - game buildup was primarily focused on the rematch . A slight plurality of experts picked Tulsa over Iowa State , but most predicted the game to be very close . Tulsa was considered a strong running team with a solid defense , while Iowa State was balanced offensively and struggled at times on defense . This was the only rematch of the 2012 - 13 college bowl season . Tulsa won the game by a score of 31 – 17 , led by Trey Watts ' 25 rush , 149 yard effort along with a three - touchdown effort by Alex Singleton . Iowa State lost their quarterback , Sam Richardson , due to a " flu bug " in the fourth quarter . After Iowa State took a 17 - 3 lead , Tulsa scored 28 unanswered points to win 31 - 17 . Teams . On Friday , November 30 , Louisiana Tech was invited to play in the Independence Bowl but asked for more time as they were in negotiations with the Liberty Bowl and Heart of Dallas Bowl . Louisiana Tech athletic director Bruce Van De Velde and WAC commissioner Jeff Hurd both claimed that on Saturday , December 1 , the Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart guaranteed the Bulldogs a bowl invite . After the Independence Bowl ' s deadline for Louisiana Tech to accept their invitation passed , the Independence Bowl selected the MAC ' s Ohio ( 8 – 4 ) instead . On Sunday , December 2 , the Liberty Bowl extended their remaining bid to Iowa State ( 6 – 6 ) instead of Louisiana Tech ( 9 – 3 ) . The Liberty Bowl did not respond to The Times ' request for comment on the situation . Louisiana Tech did not end up playing in any bowl game despite boasting the nation ' s top scoring offense . Iowa State and Tulsa previously met on September 1 , 2012 in Ames , Iowa . After taking a 16 – 7 lead , Tulsa gave up their lead allowing Iowa State to score 24 unanswered points . Iowa State went on to win 38 – 23 . Iowa State . Despite the Cyclones ' ninth - place finish in the Big 12 with a 3 – 6 conference record , their record made them the Big 12 ' s last bowl eligible team ( the only team in the conference not to do so was the Kansas Jayhawks ) . They won three of their first four games in September beating Tulsa , Western Illinois , and Iowa . They lost on September 29 to conference foe Texas Tech . In October , the Cyclones went 2 – 2 . They defeated # 13 ranked TCU and Baylor , but lost to Kansas State and Oklahoma State . They lost three of their four games in November , but did manage to defeat Kansas , who were the only Big 12 team to finish with a worse in - conference record than Iowa State . 2012 was the Cyclones ' second Liberty Bowl , following the 1972 game in which they lost to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets by a score of 31 – 30 . Tulsa . The Golden Hurricane won the Conference USA West Division championship with a 7 – 1 conference record . After defeating Central Florida by a score of 33 – 27 in overtime to win their second Conference USA title ( and their first since winning the 2005 game over the same Knights ) , the conference ' s corresponding contingency plan for the 2012 – 13 NCAA Bowl season put the Golden Hurricane in the 2012 Liberty Bowl . Tulsa lost their season opener to Iowa State 38 – 23 . They then went on a seven - game winning streak defeating Tulane , Nicholls State , Fresno State , Alabama - Birmingham , Marshall , Texas El - Paso , and Rice . Their second loss of the season came on November 3 , 2012 when they were defeated 19 – 15 by Arkansas after missing two extra points and a field goal . Tulsa won their next two games against Houston and Central Florida respectively . Their third and final loss of the regular season came on November 24 against Southern Methodist 35 – 27 . Their regular season performance earned them a birth in the conference championship game in which they defeated Central Florida for the second time of the season . This will be the Golden Hurricane ' s second Liberty Bowl , previously having won the 2005 game by defeating the Fresno State Bulldogs by a score of 31 – 24 . Pregame buildup . Most experts predicted that the game would be fairly close in score and were split as to who would win , with a slight plurality favoring Tulsa . Iowa State . Iowa State came off a . 500 season ( six wins , six losses ) during which two quarterbacks , senior Steele Jantz and freshman Sam Richardson , started at various points . The Cyclones were coached by Paul Rhoads , who had been at Iowa State since 2009 . Offense . Freshman Sam Richardson came into the game the starter at quarterback , a role he held since the Cyclones ' 53 - 21 win against the Kansas Jayhawks , which made them bowl eligible . Iowa State ' s leading rusher coming into the game was junior running back James White , who amassed 505 rushing yards during the season . One yard behind White with 504 rushing yards was Shontrelle Johnson , another junior running back . In the receiving game , Iowa State was led by a trio of senior wide receivers , Aaron Horne , Chris Young , and Josh Lenz , who totaled 39 , 38 , and 31 receptions respectively . Iowa State ' s offensive line had a few question marks coming into the game , including at right tackle where sophomore Jacob Gannon had made his first career start in the previous game . In total , Iowa State ranked 80 out of 120 in total offense averaging 364 . 2 yards per game . Defense . Defensively , Iowa State was led by three players who achieved first team all - conference honors : senior defensive lineman Jake McDonough and senior linebackers Jake Knott and A . J . Klein . Knott recorded over 10 tackles in five games while Klein achieved that feat four times . Iowa State was expected to get both safety Durrell Givens and defensive back Jansen Watson back from injury for the game . The remainder of the Cyclone secondary was rounded out by senior Jeremy Reeves and junior Jacques Washington . Coming into the game , Iowa State ranked 59th in the nation in pass defense efficiency and 69th nationally in run defense . Tulsa . Tulsa came off a 10 win , 3 loss season during which rushing was their key to success . This was the second time of the season when Tulsa faced was set have a rematch with a team , previously doing so with Central Florida in the conference championship game . Offense . Tulsa ' s offense focused heavily upon the running game ; they finished ninth in the country in rushing yards ( 3440 ) and sixth in the country in rushing touchdowns ( 41 ) . Tulsa had three running backs who achieved over 700 yards rushing : junior Trey Watts ( 959 ) , junior Ja ' Terian Douglas ( 857 ) , and senior Alex Singleton ( 765 ) . Singleton also led the team and the conference and ranked sixth nationally with 21 rushing touchdowns . In the passing game , junior quarterback Cody Green totaled 2592 passing yards and 17 touchdowns , both of which were in the middle of the pack nationally . Green ' s leading receiver was sophomore Keyarris Garrett , who amassed 67 receptions for 845 yards and 9 touchdowns , all of which led the team . Defense . Defensively , Tulsa ranked 17th in the nation in rushing defense ( allowing 121 . 2 yards per game ) and 34th in total defense ( allowing 353 . 9 yards per game ) . They ranked second in the Football Bowl Subdivision ( FBS ) with 53 sacks , trailing only Stanford . Tulsa was represented by three players on the coaches ' all - conference team : senior defensive end Cody Dorris , senior linebacker DeAundre Brown , and senior defensive back Dexter McCoil . Game summary . Broadcast . The 2012 Liberty Bowl was broadcast live on ESPN . Mark Jones provided the play - by - play commentary , former National Football League quarterback Brock Huard provided the color commentary , and Jessica Mendoza reported from the sideline . The game was also broadcast online via WatchESPN . Beth Mowins ( play - by - play ) , Joey Galloway ( color commentary ) , and Lewis Johnson ( sideline reporter ) broadcast the game on ESPN Radio . First quarter . Iowa State got the ball to start the game . Their first drive was highlighted by a 26 - yard pass from Sam Richardson to Josh Lenz . The drive totaled 9 plays and 56 yards and culminated with a 33 - yard field goal by Edwin Arceo . Tulsa and Iowa State exchanged punts on their next two drives . When Tulsa got the ball back again , Trey Watts rushed the ball for four yards on the first play of the drive , and then Cody Green threw a short pass that was intercepted by defensive back Jeremy Reeves and returned 31 yards for a touchdown that put Tulsa up 10 - 0 . Tulsa then put together a 9 - play , 75 - yard drive during which all three running backs : Alex Singleton , Ja ' Terian Douglas , and Trey Watts rushed the ball . It was Singleton who rushed for a two - yard touchdown that made the score 10 - 7 . Iowa State ' s next drive lasted only two plays , but the second was a 69 - yard pass from Richardson to tight end Ernst Brun Jr . for a touchdown . The final two drives of the quarter both went three - and - out . Second quarter . Tulsa had good field position after a short 31 - yard punt to start their first drive of the quarter . Their 4 - play , 41 - yard drive culminated with an eight - yard touchdown run by Green to cut the gap to 17 - 14 . Iowa State went three - and - out on the ensuing drive and were forced to punt . Tulsa got the ball at their own 41 yard line and put together a 6 - play , 59 yard drive that featured passes to Willie Carter , Thomas Roberson , and Keyarris Garrett for 19 , 21 , and 6 yards respectively as well as a 12 - yard rush by Watts . These plays set up first and goal at the one yard line . Alex Singleton lost a yard on first down , but ran it in for a 2 - yard touchdown on second down putting Tulsa in the lead 21 - 17 , a lead they would not give up for the remainder of the game . The next two drives each ended in a punt . Iowa State took over at their 35 yard line with 6 : 10 remaining in the half . They drove down the field to the 16 yard line , but couldn ' t score and had to settle for a 34 yard field goal attempt by Arceo , which he missed . There was no scoring for the remainder of the half . Third quarter . Since Iowa State got the ball to start the game , Tulsa got it to start the second half . They committed an illegal block in the back penalty and therefore began the drive at their own 8 yard line . The drive went three - and - out . Iowa State ran two plays prior to Richardson being intercepted by Marco Nelson at the Tulsa 31 yard line . Tulsa began the drive by committing a 15 - yard personal foul penalty which set them back to the 16 . They subsequently ran nine plays that got them just short of midfield before having to punt . Cody Way ' s punt only went 27 yards , however , and was downed at the Iowa State 25 . Iowa State punted after three plays which gave Tulsa the ball back . Their methodical 10 - play , 76 - yard drive was highlighted by a 48 - yard run by Watts . The drive was capped by Singleton ' s third touchdown run of the game . Iowa State then went three - and - out once again in the final drive of the quarter . At the conclusion of the third , the score was 28 - 17 Tulsa . Fourth quarter . The first drive of the fourth quarter lasted 5 plays and went 39 yards for Tulsa and was capped by a 40 - yard field goal by Daniel Schwarz . Iowa State went to Steele Jantz in the fourth quarter , presumably because Richardson caught a " flu bug " . Jantz completed a 15 - yard pass to Brun Jr . to start his first drive in the game , but the subsequent series stalled forcing a punt , which was fair caught by Watts . Tulsa then ran a 9 - play , 28 - yard drive that ended in another short punt , this time 26 yards , by Way . Jantz completed two more passes on the next drive prior to throwing an interception to Dexter McCoil which set up Tulsa at their 32 yard line . They ran a 5 - play , 22 - yard drive , but were once again forced to punt . Iowa State ' s final drive of the game ended when Jantz fumbled after rushing for eight yards . The fumble was forced by Shawn Johnson and recovered at the Iowa State 28 by Brentom Todd . Tulsa then took two knees , and won the game by a score of 31 - 17 . Notes . As was forecast , there was rain throughout the game . Temperatures remained in the 40s . The referee for the game was Alan Eck , who officiates in the Mountain West Conference during the regular season .