Duke Football: 3 reasons to watch Independence Bowl vs Temple

1. The Independence Bowl has a four-decade history of excitement

Since the bicentennial year of 1976, the Independence Bowl has been a staple of the college football postseason. The game has grown into an event that now regularly features at least one Power Five opponent each year. But its origins were much more modest, with the game serving as an outlet for the Southland Conference to have a guaranteed location to send their champion.

At the time, the split of Division I into the I-A and I-AA (now FBS and FCS) levels was still several years away. McNeese State what was first branded the Bicentennial Bowl against Tulsa, kicking off a game that survived as the Independence Bowl the following year and has remained ever since. Louisiana Tech and McNeese dominated the Southland in the late 1970s and thus the early years of the Independence Bowl.

By 1981, when the Southland shifted to the I-AA level, the Independence Bowl shifted toward a setup where it focused on setting up a pair of at-large opponents. That set up a decade where the bowl grew to feature participants from the Big 8, the Southwest Conference, the SEC, the Big Ten, the ACC, and top independents.