2022 Las Vegas Bowl

The 2022 Las Vegas Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 17, 2022, at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. The 30th annual Las Vegas Bowl, the game featured Oregon State from the Pac-12 Conference and Florida from the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game began at 11:35 a.m. PST^[5] and aired on ESPN.^[6] It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by roofing distribution company SRS Distribution, the game was officially known as the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl.

2022 SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl
30th Las Vegas Bowl
Allegiant Stadium and the teams at scrimmage during the second quarter
Florida Gators Oregon State Beavers (6–6) (9–3) SEC Pac-12 3 30 Head coach:  Billy Napier Head coach:  Jonathan Smith AP Coaches CFP 17 16 14
1 2 3 4 Total Florida 0 0 0 3 3 Oregon State 7 3 13 7 30
Date	December 17, 2022
Season	2022
Stadium	Allegiant Stadium
Location	Paradise, Nevada
MVP	Ben Gulbranson (QB, Oregon State)^[1]
Favorite	Oregon State by 8.5^[2]
Referee	Riley Johnson (ACC)^[3]
Attendance	29,750
Payout	US$2,900,000^[4]
United States TV coverage
Network	ESPN
Announcers	Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit and Pat McAfee (analysts), and Laura Rutledge (sideline)
Las Vegas Bowl  < 2021  2023 >

Teams

The Las Vegas Bowl featured the Florida Gators from the Southeastern Conference and the Oregon State Beavers from the Pac-12 Conference. This was the first meeting between the teams.^[7]

This was the 19th bowl game appearance for Oregon State, and they entered with a bowl record of 11–7.^[7] The Beavers had appeared in the Las Vegas Bowl twice before: they defeated New Mexico in the 2003 game and lost to BYU in the 2009 game.^[7] The game was Florida's 48th bowl game appearance, and they entered with a record of 24–23 across all prior appearances.^[8] This was the first appearance in the Las Vegas Bowl — and in a bowl game in the state of Nevada — for the Gators.^[8]

Florida

Main article: 2022 Florida Gators football team

In Billy Napier's debut season with the program, the Gators kicked off their campaign with an upset victory over No. 7 Utah,^[9] vaulting them into the AP Poll at No. 12.^[10] They suffered a setback in their conference opener the next week as they lost by ten to No. 20 Kentucky,^[11] but rebounded with a narrow win over South Florida closed out their three-game home stretch to begin the year.^[12] They fell out of the rankings following a five-point defeat at No. 11 Tennessee the next week in a game that was visited by College GameDay.^[13] After delaying their fifth game by a day due to Hurricane Ian,^[14] the Gators hosted Eastern Washington and won,^[15] and they played Missouri the next Saturday for homecoming in a game that they also won.^[16] They were unable to keep up their good form, as the Gators fell to LSU by ten points at home before heading into a bye week.^[17] They fell back to .500 with a rivalry loss against No. 1 Georgia in Jacksonville to conclude the month of October.^[18] Florida responded with a pair of conference wins, the second of which earned them bowl eligibility: first on the road against Texas A&M^[19] and second at home against South Carolina.^[20] The Gators' final SEC game resulted in an upset loss to Vanderbilt by seven points,^[21] and Florida's regular season concluded with a rivalry loss to Florida State, also by seven.^[22] The Gators accepted their bid to the Las Vegas Bowl on December 4, and entered with a 6–6 overall record and a 3–5 record in SEC play.^[23]

On December 5, Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson announced that he would forgo playing in the bowl game and instead declare for the NFL Draft.^[24] As a result, Napier announced on December 8 that redshirt freshman Jack Miller III would start at quarterback for the Gators in Richardson's place.^[25]

Oregon State

Main article: 2022 Oregon State Beavers football team

Jonathan Smith's fifth year at the helm of the Oregon State program began with a trio of non-conference games: one home, one away, and one played at a neutral site. The Beavers' opener saw them defeat Boise State^[26] and their first road contest of the season resulted in a three-point win over Fresno State after a game-winning touchdown on the game's last play.^[27] They improved to 3–0 with a 40-point win over Montana State in Portland.^[28] Two ranked opponents waited for Oregon State as the Beavers entered Pac-12 play with a loss to No. 7 USC, by three points,^[29] followed by a loss to No. 12 Utah, by 26 points.^[30] The Beavers rebounded with a one-point win over Stanford^[31] before returning home to face Washington State, whom they defeated by 14 points.^[32] OSU earned bowl eligibility the following week by defeating Colorado at home, 42–9.^[33] After entering the rankings for the first time this season at No. 23, the Beavers fell to Washington in a Friday night road game,^[34] but regained their place in the top 25 with a victory the next week against California.^[35] In their final road game, Oregon State traveled to Tempe and beat Arizona State by 24 points,^[36] putting them at No. 21 in the College Football Playoff rankings entering their rivalry game with No. 9 Oregon.^[37] The Beavers rallied from a 21-point third quarter deficit to beat the Ducks by 4, marking the end of their best regular season under Jonathan Smith.^[38]

The Beavers accepted their bowl bid on December 4; they entered with a 9–3 record and a 6–3 mark in conference play.^[23]

Game summary

The game was originally scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PST on ABC, but was moved up after the NFL flexed the New England Patriots–Las Vegas Raiders game out of NBC Sunday Night Football in order to allow the Raiders, who play their home games at Allegiant Stadium, more time to prepare the venue.^[39] The game's original time and network was moved to be the new time and network for the New Mexico Bowl as a result.^[40]

The officiating crew for the game, representing the Atlantic Coast Conference, was led by referee Riley Johnson and umpire Mark Wilson.^[3]

Due in part to many players sitting out the bowl game in order to avoid an injury, the Gators offense struggled mightily in the game. Florida scored a field goal with just 37 seconds left in the game to barely avoid its first shutout since October 29, 1988 and extend its all time NCAA record of avoiding a shutout to 436 games.^[41][42][43]

2022 SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
Florida	0	0	0	3	3
No. 14 Oregon State	7	3	13	7	30

at Allegiant Stadium • Paradise, Nevada

• Date: Saturday, December 17, 2022
• Game time: 11:30 a.m. PST
• Game weather: Indoor
• Referee: Riley Johnson
• TV announcers (ESPN): Dave Pasch (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit and Pat McAfee (analysts), and Laura Rutledge (sideline)
• Box score

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP Florida Oregon State 1 2:10 8 65 3:39 Oregon State Tyjon Lindsey 8-yard touchdown run, Everett Hayes kick good 0 7 2 4:32 9 59 5:20 Oregon State 27-yard field goal by Everett Hayes 0 10 3 10:20 10 64 4:33 Oregon State Silas Bolden 15-yard touchdown reception from Ben Gulbranson, Everett Hayes kick good 0 17 3 8:44 3 7 0:25 Oregon State Ben Gulbranson 7-yard touchdown run, Atticus Sappington kick good 0 23 4 13:02 13 98 6:33 Oregon State Jam Griffin 2-yard touchdown run, Atticus Sappington kick good 0 30 4 0:37 12 64 5:14 Florida 40-yard field goal by Adam Mihalek 3 30 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 0 30

Statistics

Team statistical comparison^[5] Statistic Florida Oregon State First downs 13 24 First downs rushing 3 11 First downs passing 9 10 First downs penalty 1 3 Third down efficiency 5–14 7–12 Fourth down efficiency 0–2 1–1 Total plays–net yards 55–219 65–353 Rushing attempts–net yards 33–39 39–164 Yards per rush 1.2 4.2 Yards passing 180 189 Pass completions–attempts 13–22 17–26 Interceptions thrown 0 0 Punt returns–total yards 1–(−1) 1–13 Kickoff returns–total yards 4–91 1–26 Punts–average yardage 5–45.2 3–55.3 Fumbles–lost 2–0 0–0 Penalties–yards 11–82 7–50 Time of possession 30:25 29:35

Florida statistics^[5] Gators passing C–A Yds TD–INT Jack Miller III 13–22 180 0–0 Gators rushing Car Yds TD Montrell Johnson Jr. 11 14 0 Trevor Etienne 8 14 0 Jack Miller III 13 13 0 Ricky Pearsall 1 −2 0 Gators receiving Rec Yds TD Ricky Pearsall 4 65 0 Thai Chiaokhiao-Bowman 2 53 0 Caleb Douglas 2 25 0 Jonathan Odom 2 24 0 Ja'Quavion Fraziars 1 10 0 Trevor Etienne 1 9 0 Montrell Johnson Jr. 1 −6 0

Oregon State statistics^[5] Beavers passing C–A Yds TD–INT Ben Gulbranson 12–19 165 1–0 Tristan Gebbia 5–6 24 0–0 Tyjon Lindsey 0–1 0 0–0 Beavers rushing Car Yds TD Deshaun Fenwick 20 107 0 Jack Colletto 2 17 0 Ben Gulbranson 5 15 1 Jesiah Irish 2 15 0 Damien Martinez 3 12 0 Tyjon Lindsey 1 8 1 Jam Griffin 2 2 1 Kanoa Shannon 1 2 0 TEAM 1 −2 0 Tristan Gebbia 1 −12 0 Beavers receiving Rec Yds TD Silas Bolden 6 99 1 John Dunmore 5 42 0 Jack Velling 2 21 0 Isaiah Newell 1 11 0 Jesiah Irish 1 9 0 Tyjon Lindsey 2 7 0

References

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