Grantland Rice Bowl

The Grantland Rice Bowl was an annual college football bowl game in NCAA's College Division, for smaller universities and colleges. The game was named for Grantland Rice, an early 20th-century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose.

From 1964 to 1972, it was one of four season-ending national quarterfinals which led to the determination of a College Division national champion, by poll. It was the Mideast Regional championship, played in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, from 1964 to 1968. In the 1968 game, Tommy Spinks of Louisiana Tech set two records when he caught 12 passes for 167 yards; the passes were thrown by junior quarterback Terry Bradshaw, the first selection of the 1970 NFL Draft.

Regional alignments shifted in 1969 and the game was relocated to BREC Memorial Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where it remained through 1975.

In 1973, the College Division was realigned into Division II and Division III, with full eight-team playoffs to determine a national champion in both divisions. The Grantland Rice Bowl became a national semifinal in Division II, along with the Pioneer Bowl in Wichita Falls, Texas, with the winners advancing to the Camellia Bowl championship game in Sacramento, California. In 1976, the Grantland Rice Bowl left Baton Rouge and became a hosted game at Fargo, North Dakota, and in Anniston, Alabama in 1977. The other semifinal in those two seasons was the Knute Rockne Bowl, and the championship game was the Pioneer Bowl in Texas.

With the formation of Division I-AA (renamed FCS in 2006) and the modern playoff structure, the game ceased to exist. After a three-year absence, the game returned in a different form. Since 1981, the NCAA Division I FCS Playoff South Regional Championship (national quarterfinal) is commonly referred to as the Grantland Rice Bowl, in honor of its College Division heritage. The game is played at the highest remaining seed in the South Region with the winner advancing to the NCAA Division I FCS Playoff Final Four (national semifinal).

College Division results

Division II results

• The other semifinal was the Pioneer Bowl (1973–1975) and Knute Rockne Bowl (1976–1977);
  the championship game was the Camellia Bowl (1973–1975) and Pioneer Bowl (1976–1977).

Division I FCS results (South Region Championship — FCS playoffs)

formerly Division I-AA (1978–2005)

References

• Grantland Rice Bowl Games