2025 Gasparilla Bowl
Postseason college football bowl game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2025 Gasparilla Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 19, 2025, at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The 17th annual Gasparilla Bowl game began at 2:32 p.m. EST and aired on ESPN.[2][3] The Gasparilla Bowl was one of the 2025–26 bowl games concluding the 2025 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by mortgage loan company Union Home Mortgage, and was officially known as the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl.
| 2025 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17th Gasparilla Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
Postgame award ceremony | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | December 19, 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2025 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Raymond James Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Tampa, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Caden Fordham, LB, NC State | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | NC State by 3.5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Nolan Dumas (Mountain West) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 13,336[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Anish Shroff (play-by-play), Andre Ware (analyst), and Paul Carcaterra (sideline) | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2025 Gasparilla Bowl featured the Memphis Tigers (8–4) from the American Conference and the NC State Wolfpack (7–5) from the Atlantic Coast Conference. NC State beat Memphis by a score of 31–7.[4]
Teams
This was the first meeting between Memphis and NC State.[5]
Memphis Tigers
Memphis opened their season with six consecutive wins. After a loss to UAB in mid-October, the Tigers won their next two games and had an 8–1 record at the end of October. They then lost their final three regular-season games to enter the Gasparilla Bowl with an 8–4 record.[6]
For the bowl, Memphis was led by interim head coach Reggie Howard, appointed following the departure of Ryan Silverfield, who was hired by the Arkansas Razorbacks.[7]
NC State Wolfpack
NC State opened their regular season with three consecutive wins. They then lost five of their next seven games and had a 5–5 record at mid-November. The Wolfpack won their final two regular-season games to enter the Gasparilla Bow with a 7–5 record.[8]
Game summary
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memphis | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| NC State | 14 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 31 |
at Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, Florida
- Date: Friday, December 19, 2025
- Game time: 2:30 p.m. EST
- Game weather: Sunny • Temperature: 77 °F (25 °C) • Wind: 10 mph (16 km/h) East
- Game attendance: 13,336
- Referee: Nolan Dumas
- TV announcers (ESPN): Anish Shroff (play-by-play), Andre Ware (analyst), and Paul Carcaterra (sideline)
- Box score
Statistics
| Statistics | MEM | NCSU |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 17 | 17 |
| Plays–yards | 70–303 | 59–337 |
| Rushes–yards | 36–149 | 33–116 |
| Passing yards | 154 | 221 |
| Passing: comp–att–int | 20–34–1 | 14–26–0 |
| Time of possession | 33:38 | 26:36 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memphis | Passing | Brendon Lewis | 14/25, 106 yards, TD, INT |
| Rushing | Jamari Hawkins | 9 carries, 65 yards | |
| Receiving | Khyair Spain | 4 receptions, 32 yards, TD | |
| NC State | Passing | CJ Bailey | 14/25, 221 yards, 2 TD |
| Rushing | Jayden Scott | 19 carries, 108 yards | |
| Receiving | Wesley Grimes | 3 receptions, 48 yards, TD |