2026 Liberty Bowl
| 2026 AutoZone Liberty Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67th Liberty Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | January 2, 2026 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Memphis, Tennessee | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Blake Horvath (QB, Navy)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Navy by 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | David Smith (SEC) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 21,908 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN ESPN Radio | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Mike Monaco (play-by-play), Kirk Morrison (analyst), and Dawn Davenport (sideline) (ESPN) Chris Carlin (play-by-play), Rocky Boiman (analyst) and Marion Crowder (sideline) (ESPN Radio) | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2026 Liberty Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 2026, at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium located in Memphis, Tennessee. The 67th annual Liberty Bowl game began at approximately 3:30 p.m. CST and aired on ESPN.[2][3] It was one of the 2025–26 bowl games concluding the 2025 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by automotive parts and accessories retailer AutoZone and was officially known as the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
The Navy Midshipmen of the American Conference defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats of the Big 12 Conference, 35–13.[1]
Teams
The game featured Navy from the American Conference and Cincinnati from the Big 12 Conference. This was their seventh meeting, and first since 2022 when both teams were members of the American Athletic Conference (an earlier name of the American Conference). The teams split their prior games, 3–3, with Navy winning their first three meetings (1940, 1956, 2017) and Cincinnati winning the next three (2018, 2021, 2022).[4]
Navy Midshipmen
Navy compiled a 10–2 record during their regular season, losing only to North Texas and Notre Dame in back-to-back games in early November. The Midshipmen defeated one ranked team, South Florida, and secured a one-point victory over rival Army on December 13.[5] Navy entered the Liberty Bowl ranked 22nd in the AP poll.
Cincinnati Bearcats
Cincinnati opened their season with a loss to Nebraska then won seven games in a row, including a win over No. 14 Iowa State. After bring ranked as high as 17th, the Bearcats ended their regular season with four consecutive losses, two of which were to ranked teams, Utah and BYU. Cincinnati entered the Liberty Bowl unranked and with an overall 7–5 record.[6]
Game summary
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Navy | 7 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 35 |
| Cincinnati | 0 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 13 |
at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium • Memphis, Tennessee
- Date: Friday, January 2, 2026
- Game time: 3:30 p.m. CST
- Game weather: Rain • Temperature: 52 °F (11 °C) • Wind: 8 mph (13 km/h) north
- Game attendance: 21,908
- Referee: Jordan Guest
- TV announcers (ESPN): Mike Monaco (play-by-play), Kirk Morrison (analyst), and Dawn Davenport (sideline)
- Box score
Statistics
| Statistics | NAVY | CIN |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 22 | 12 |
| Plays–yards | 349 | 239 |
| Rushes–yards | 51–241 | 38–142 |
| Passing yards | 108 | 97 |
| Passing: comp–att–int | 9–15–0 | 12–20–1 |
| Time of possession | 33:42 | 26:18 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navy | Passing | Blake Horvath | 9/15, 108 yards, 2 TD |
| Rushing | Alex Tecza | 16 carries, 80 yards, TD | |
| Receiving | Eli Heidenreich | 5 receptions, 64 yards, TD | |
| Cincinnati | Passing | Brady Lichtenberg | 10/15, 78 yards, TD, INT |
| Rushing | Manny Covey | 11 carries, 78 yards | |
| Receiving | Manny Covey | 5 receptions, 28 yards |
References
- 1 2 "Blake Horvath, Navy seniors go out in style, top Cincinnati in Liberty Bowl". WJOX-FM. January 2, 2026. Retrieved January 2, 2026.
- ↑ "2025-26 College Football Playoff schedule, dates, TV channel, sites". NCAA.com. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
- ↑ "College Football Bowl Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 27 June 2025.
- ↑ "Navy vs. Cincinnati football series history games list". winsipedia.com. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
- ↑ "Navy Midshipmen". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
- ↑ "Cincinnati Bearcats". ESPN.com. Retrieved December 31, 2025.
External links
- Game statistics at statbroadcast.com