2025 Bahamas Bowl
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| 2025 Bahamas Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 10th Bahamas Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 4, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Thomas Robinson Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Nassau, Bahamas | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Offense: Al-Jay Henderson (RB, Buffalo) Defense: Red Murdock (LB, Buffalo)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Buffalo by 3.5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Darryl DeBerry (AAC)[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 4,610 | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Matt Schumacker (play-by-play), Dustin Fox (analyst) and Coley Harvey (sideline) | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2025 Bahamas Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 4, 2025, at Thomas Robinson Stadium located in Nassau, The Bahamas.[3] The 10th annual Bahamas Bowl game featured Buffalo and Liberty. The game began at approximately 11:00 a.m. EST and aired on ESPN2. The Bahamas Bowl was one of the final 2024–25 bowl games concluding the 2024 FBS football season, and was the final team-competitive bowl game not part of the College Football Playoff (CFP). Buffalo defeated Liberty, 26–7, to claim their fourth consecutive bowl victory.[4][5]
Buffalo Bulls
Consistent with conference tie-ins, the game featured the Buffalo Bulls from Mid-American Conference (MAC) and Liberty Flames from the Conference USA (C-USA).[6] The teams had previously met three times, between 1998 and 2023, with Liberty winning each of those games.[7]
Buffalo compiled an 8–4 regular season record (6–2 in MAC play). After playing to a 4–4 record through eight games, the Bulls concluded their schedule with four consecutive wins. Buffalo faced two ranked FBS teams, losing to Missouri while defeating Northern Illinois.
Liberty Flames
Liberty posted an overall record of 8–3 in regular-season games (5–3 in C-USA play). The Flames had one game canceled, against Appalachian State, due to Hurricane Helene. Liberty began their season with five consecutive wins, then went 3–3 in their final six games. The Flames did not face any ranked opponents.
Liberty's starting quarterback, Kaidon Salter, and running back, Quinton Cooley, both opted out of the game. Salter had committed to play at Colorado in 2025 and Cooley chose to focus on preparing for the 2025 NFL draft.[8]