| Game Name: | Heart of Dallas Bowl |
| Subheader: | 5th Heart of Dallas Bowl |
| Title Sponsor: | Zaxby's |
| Date Game Played: | December 26 |
| Year Game Played: | 2014 |
| Football Season: | 2014 |
| Stadium: | Cotton Bowl |
| City: | Fair Park Dallas, Texas |
| Visitor School: | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| Visitor Name Short: | Illinois |
| Visitor Nickname: | Fighting Illini |
| Visitor Record: | 6–6 |
| Visitor Conference: | Big Ten |
| Visitor Coach: | Tim Beckman |
| Visitor 1Q: | 3 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 6 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 6 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 3 |
| Home School: | Louisiana Tech University |
| Home Name Short: | Louisiana Tech |
| Home Nickname: | Bulldogs |
| Home Record: | 8–5 |
| Home Conference: | C-USA |
| Home Coach: | Skip Holtz |
| Home 1Q: | 14 |
| Home 2Q: | 7 |
| Home 3Q: | 0 |
| Home 4Q: | 14 |
| Odds: | Louisiana Tech by 7[1] |
| Mvp: | Houston Bates (LB, Louisiana Tech)[2] |
| Referee: | Land Clark (Pac-12) |
| Attendance: | 31,297 |
| Us Network: | ESPN & RedVoice LLC |
| Us Announcers: | Mike Corey, Charles Arbuckle, & Kayce Smith (ESPN) Brian Estridge, John Denton, Rob Best, and Landry Burdine (RedVoice LLC) |
| Different Previous: | Jan 2014 |
The 2014 Heart of Dallas Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 26, 2014 at the Cotton Bowl at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. The fifth edition of the Heart of Dallas Bowl featured the Illinois Fighting Illini against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs.[3] The game was played at 1:00 p.m. CST and aired on ESPN. It was one of the 2014–15 bowl games that concluded the 2014 FBS football season. The game is sponsored by the Zaxby's chicken restaurant franchise and is officially known as the Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl.
Louisiana Tech beat Illinois by a score of 35–18.[4]
This was the second overall meeting between these two teams, with the Bulldogs winning the first matchup in 2012.
See also: Illinois Fighting Illini football and 2014 Illinois Fighting Illini football team. Illinois came as a team on a series of streaks throughout the season. On the season the Illini had averaged 26.6 points per game but gave up an average of 34 points per game. Illinois can easily be summarized as a Jekyll and Hyde team. During their 6 wins the Illini scored an average of 33.8 points per game, but in their 6 losses they've gave up an average of 41.67 points per game. This was the Illini's first bowl game since 2011.
See also: Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football and 2014 Louisiana Tech Bulldogs football team. Louisiana Tech entered the bowl game as the C-USA West Division champs. The Bulldogs won six of their last eight games giving up an average of 20.5 points per game during that stretch. 3 of the Bulldogs five losses come to Top 25 teams.
With the win, the Bulldogs won their first bowl game since 2008.
Source: [5]
| Statistics | ILL | La. Tech |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 26 | 16 |
| Plays–yards | 80–451 | 59–361 |
| Rushes–yards | 33–122 | 31–114 |
| Passing yards | 329 | 247 |
| Passing: Comp–Att–Int | 28–47–1 | 14–28–0 |
| Time of possession | 35:00 | 25:00 |
| Team | Category | Player | Statistics |
|---|---|---|---|
| ILL | Passing | Reilly O'Toole | 24/39, 295 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT |
| Rushing | 7 car, 50 yds | ||
| Receiving | Malik Turner | 6 rec, 84 yds | |
| La. Tech | Passing | Cody Sokol | 14/28, 247 yds, 1 TD |
| Rushing | 13 car, 63 yds, 1 TD | ||
| Receiving | 4 rec, 93 yds |