2024 Birmingham Bowl
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| 2024 Birmingham Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 18th Birmingham Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | December 27, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Protective Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Birmingham, Alabama | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Diego Pavia (QB, Vanderbilt)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Georgia Tech by 2.5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Mark Kluczynski (Big Ten)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 33,840 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Dave Neal (play-by-play), Aaron Murray (analyst), and Ashley ShahAhmadi (sideline) | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2024 Birmingham Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 27, 2024, at Protective Stadium located in Birmingham, Alabama. The 18th annual Birmingham Bowl featured Georgia Tech and Vanderbilt. The game began at approximately 2:30 p.m. CST and aired on ESPN.[3][4] The Birmingham Bowl was one of the 2024–25 bowl games concluding the 2024 FBS football season.
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
Consistent with conference tie-ins, the game featured Georgia Tech from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and Vanderbilt from the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Both teams accepted bowl invitations on December 8. The teams share a historic rivalry, having met 38 times previously, although this was their first meeting since 2016.[5]
Georgia Tech compiled a 7–5 regular-season record (5–3 in ACC play). The Yellow Jackets won their first two games and were briefly ranked 23rd in the nation, their first AP Poll ranking since 2015.[6] Georgia Tech faced five ranked teams during the season, defeating Florida State and Miami while losing to Louisville, Notre Dame, and Georgia.
Vanderbilt Commodores
Vanderbilt finished the regular season 6–6, a significant improvement from their 2–10 season in 2023. The Commodores received widespread attention after they defeated top-ranked Alabama, 40–35, on October 5.
The upset marked the beginning of a three-game winning streak that saw Vanderbilt receive its first AP poll ranking since 2013.[7] Vanderbilt also notched upsets over Virginia Tech,[8] Kentucky,[9] and Auburn (the final of which granted Vanderbilt bowl eligibility for the first time since 2018[10]) while only losing by one score to Georgia State,[11] No. 7 Missouri,[12] No. 5 Texas,[13] and LSU.[14] Vanderbilt lost its regular season finale in a rivalry game against Tennessee.
With their win over Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt secured their first winning season since the 2013 Commodores and their first bowl win since the 2014 BBVA Compass Bowl.