Friday, Dec. 31 • Noon
Bank of America Stadium (73,778/Natural Grass)
Charlotte, N.C.
Television
ESPN
Carter Blackburn, Mike Bellotti, Brock Huard and Shannon Spake
USF Radio
WFLA-AM 970 (flagship)
Sirius Ch. 122; XM Ch. 143
THE GAME
The Meineke Car Care Bowl will be played for the ninth time when USF meets Clemson Dec. 31 in Charlotte, N.C. … The bowl existed as the Continental Tire Bowl for its first three seasons … The game features representatives from the BIG EAST Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference … The lone exception was in 2006, when Navy was chosen to face Boston College … The BIG EAST has gone 3-4 in the Meineke Car Care Bowl with two straight wins … The game will be the first meeting between USF and Clemson … Clemson is 1-2 all-time against current BIG EAST members.
MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL HISTORY
12-28-02 Virginia 48, WEST VIRGINIA 22
12-27-03 Virginia 23, PITTSBURGH 16
12-30-04 Boston College 37, North Carolina 24
12-31-05 North Carolina State 14, USF 0
12-30-06 Boston College 25, Navy 24
12-29-07 Wake Forest 24, CONNECTICUT 10
12-27-08 WEST VIRGINIA 31, North Carolina 30
12-26-09 PITTSBURGH 19, North Carolina 17
USF (7-5)
Head Coach
Skip Holtz (Notre Dame ’86)
7-5, first season at USF
79-55, 11th year as collegiate head coach
NOTES
USF will make its sixth consecutive postseason appearance when the Bulls face Clemson in the Meineke Car Care Bowl … USF is 3-2 in its five previous bowl appearances and has won two straight postseason games, most recently a 27-3 win against Northern Illinois in the 2010 International Bowl … USF closed the regular season with wins in four of its last six games, with all six of those games decided by eight points are fewer … The Bulls are 2-0 in overtime this season and 9-0 all-time … The Bulls held their BIG EAST opponents to 20 points or fewer four times, but are 0-4 in those games … First-year coach Skip Holtz makes his third consecutive bowl appearances after taking East Carolina to the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in 2008 and 20009 … QB B.J. Daniels has thrown for 1,496 yards and nine touchdowns with 12 interceptions, but left the Nov. 27 game against Miami with a leg injury … Daniels did not play in the regular-season finale against Connecticut and may not play against Clemson in the bowl game … QB Bobby Eveld has thrown for 454 yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions this season … RB Moise Plancher has rushed for a team-high 743 yards with four touchdowns … WR Dontavia Bogan — an All-BIG EAST Second Team selection — has 46 receptions for 670 yards and five touchdowns … DT Terrell McClain earned All-BIG EAST First Team accolades … LB Jacquain Williams (68 tackles, 2.5 sacks) and CB Mistral Raymond (52 tackles, 1 INT, 7 pass breakups) were second team choices … WR Lindsey Lamar was chosen as the BIG EAST Special Teams Player of the Year after he averaged 28.1 yards and scored two touchdowns on 30 kickoff returns in the regular season.
2010 RESULTS
|
September
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
Stony Brook
|
W
|
59-14
|
|
11
|
at Florida
|
L
|
14-38
|
|
25
|
Western Kentucky
|
W
|
24-12
|
|
October
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
Florida Atlantic
|
W
|
31-3
|
|
9
|
SYRACUSE
|
L
|
9-13
|
|
14
|
at WEST VIRGINIA
|
L
|
6-20
|
|
22
|
at CINCINNATI
|
W
|
38-30
|
|
November
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
RUTGERS
|
W
|
28-27
|
|
13
|
at LOUISVILLE
|
W
|
ot 24-21
|
|
20
|
PITTSBURGH
|
L
|
10-17
|
|
27
|
at Miami (Fla.)
|
W
|
ot 23-20
|
|
December
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
CONNECTICUT
|
L
|
16-19
|
|
31
|
vs. Clemson
|
|
Noon
|
BIG EAST games in CAPS
CLEMSON (6-6)
Head Coach
Dabo Sweeney (Alabama ’93)
19-14, third season
NOTES
NOTES
Clemson is making its sixth consecutive appearance in a bowl game after going 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference … The Tigers snapped a three-game losing streak in bowl games with last year’s 21-13 win against Kentucky in the Music City Bowl … Clemson is making its 32nd appearance in a bowl game and takes a 15-16 postseason record into the Meineie Car Care Bowl … A win against USF would give Clemson its 11th consecutive winning season … The Tigers’ regular-season schedule ranks as one of the nation’s toughest, with nine opponents that qualified for bowl games this year … Only Notre Dame (10) played more teams that reached the postseason this year … Included among Clemson's results this year is an overtime loss to Auburn — the No. 1 team in the final Bowl Championship Series standings … The Tigers rank ninth nationally in scoring defense (17.8 ppg) … The top player is DE Da'Quan Bowers, a consensus All-America selection who earned the Nagurski Award as the nation’s top defensive player … Bowers, the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, leads the nation with 15.5 sacks and is second nationally with 25 tackles for loss … RB Andre Ellington has rushed for 686 yards and a team-high 10 touchdowns, while RB Jamie Harper has a team-high 726 rushing yards with six TDs … QB Kyle Parker has thrown for 2,079 yards and 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions … WR DeAndre Hopkins is the leading receiver with 43 catches for 532 yards and four touchdowns … S DeAndre McDaniel has a team-high 73 tackles to go with four interceptions.
2010 RESULTS
|
September
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
North Texas
|
W
|
35-10
|
|
11
|
Presbyterian
|
W
|
58-21
|
|
18
|
at Auburn
|
L
|
ot 24-27
|
|
October
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
MIAMI (Fla.)
|
L
|
21-30
|
|
9
|
at NORTH CAROLINA
|
L
|
16-21
|
|
16
|
MARYLAND
|
W
|
31-7
|
|
23
|
GEORGIA TECH
|
W
|
27-13
|
|
30
|
at BOSTON COLLEGE
|
L
|
10-16
|
|
November
|
|
|
|
|
6
|
NORTH CAROLINA STATE
|
W
|
14-13
|
|
13
|
at FLORIDA STATE
|
L
|
13-16
|
|
20
|
at WAKE FOREST
|
W
|
30-10
|
|
27
|
South Carolina
|
L
|
7-29
|
|
December
|
|
|
|
|
31
|
vs. USF
|
|
Noon
|
ACC games in CAPS
