First Responder Bowl Betting History

The prestigious Cotton Bowl, now part of the New Year’s Six bowl lineup, used to be played at, well, the actual Cotton Bowl in Dallas at Fair Park. That’s where the annual State Fair of Texas is held as well as the Oklahoma-Texas Red River Showdown game every October. The Cotton Bowl, however, moved to mammoth AT&T Stadium, home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, in 2010. The Cotton Bowl was then replaced by the Ticket City Bowl, then the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Now, it’s known as the First Responder Bowl. 

The first eight matchups included teams from the Big 12, Big Ten, American Athletic Conference, Pac-12, Conference USA, Mountain West and independent Army. The Big Ten played in the bowl for its first three years – and lost all three (to Texas Tech, Houston and Oklahoma State). The 2017 game featured schools from the Big Ten and Big 12. In 2018, it will be Big Ten vs Conference USA, and in 2019, Big 12 vs C-USA. The game moved from Jan. 1 or Jan. 2 to late December in the 2014 season.

In 2016, Army was -9 and beat North Texas 38-31 in overtime. The Black Knights, who run the triple option, attempted just four passes in the game and rushed 74 times for 480 yards and six touchdowns. In the first Ticket City Bowl, Texas Tech was -7.5 and beat Northwestern 45-38. Other than those two favorites failing to cover, every other Heart of Dallas Bowl up to 2017 had been decided by double digits.

This year’s First Responder Bowl – formerly the Heart of Dallas Bowl – will see the Boston College Eagles take on the Boise State Broncos. For the latest odds, a free pick and handicapping information, visit our First Responder Bowl Game Center.  - This game was cancelled due to severe weather leaving both teams to settle for a NO CONTEST result.