1997 Liberty Bowl

In their second year of Conference USA play, the Golden Eagles won their second straight Conference USA championship, the first time they repeated as conference champs since 1951 when still part of the Gulf States Conference. Even though they finished third in the Big East Conference, Pittsburgh had won half the amount of games they had won the past four seasons (12) in just one season, under new coach Walt Harris. This was the first Liberty Bowl for both teams.

Game summary

By the time Pittsburgh had added a touchdown catch late in the 2nd quarter, it was 14–0 Southern Miss, on two Gideon touchdowns. As it turned out, that would be the Panthers' last points as the Golden Eagles dominated in the second half with 27 unanswered points. Perry Phenix started it off with a fumble recovery for a touchdown to make it 21–7, and Gideon caught his third touchdown to make it 28–7 as the third quarter ended. The fourth quarter proved to be the death blow for Pittsburgh as in a span of 2:40 Adalius Thomas and Terrance Parrish both returned interceptions for touchdowns as Southern Miss' offensive and defensive attack proved too much for the Panthers, whose three turnover doomed them despite having 440 total yards and having the ball for 32:55. Sherrod Gideon caught three touchdown passes from Lee Roberts (who went 18 of 26 for 227 yards) and was named MVP. This would remain the biggest margin of victory in Liberty Bowl history until 2013.^[1]

Aftermath

Southern Miss has returned twice to the Liberty Bowl (1999, 2003), while Pittsburgh has not.

Statistics

Statistics	USM	Pittsburgh
First Downs	15	16
Yards Rushing	125	150
Yards Passing	227	190
Return Yards	164	100
Total Yards	516	440
Punts-Average	7-36.3	7-40.3
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	1-1
Interceptions	1	2
Penalties-Yards	6-40	8-72

References

↑ "1997 Liberty Bowl". Southern Miss Golden Eagles Football Media Guide. Southern Miss Golden Eagles Athletics. p. 184. Retrieved January 17, 2015.

1997–98 NCAA football bowl game season

Las Vegas (Dec. 20) Aloha (Dec. 25) Motor City (Dec. 26) Insight.com (Dec. 27) Independence (Dec. 28) Carquest (Dec. 29) Holiday (Dec. 29) Humanitarian (Dec. 29) Alamo (Dec. 30) Liberty (Dec. 31) Sun (Dec. 31) Outback (Jan. 1) Gator (Jan. 1) Citrus (Jan. 1) Cotton (Jan. 1) Rose (Jan. 1) Peach (Jan. 2)

Bowl Alliance games: Fiesta (Dec. 31) Sugar (Jan. 1) Orange (Jan. 2)

Liberty Bowl

History & conference tie-ins	History Philadelphia Municipal Stadium Convention Hall Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Broadcasters Big 12 Conference Southeastern Conference American Athletic Conference

Games	1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2009 2010 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2016 2016

Notes	There was no Liberty Bowl in 2008 or 2015. There was a Liberty Bowl in January and December of 2010 and 2016.

Southern Miss Golden Eagles bowl games

Pittsburgh Panthers bowl games

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