| Game Name: | Birmingham Bowl |
| Subheader: | 16th Birmingham Bowl |
| Title Sponsor: | TicketSmarter |
| Date Game Played: | December 27 |
| Year Game Played: | 2022 |
| Football Season: | 2022 |
| Stadium: | Protective Stadium |
| City: | Birmingham, Alabama |
| Visitor School: | Coastal Carolina University |
| Visitor Name Short: | Coastal Carolina |
| Visitor Nickname: | Chanticleers |
| Visitor Record: | 9–3 |
| Visitor Conference: | Sun Belt |
| Visitor Coach: | Chad Staggs |
| Visitor 1Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 14 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 7 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 8 |
| Home School: | East Carolina University |
| Home Name Short: | East Carolina |
| Home Nickname: | Pirates |
| Home Record: | 7–5 |
| Home Conference: | The American |
| Home Coach: | Mike Houston |
| Home 1Q: | 10 |
| Home 2Q: | 14 |
| Home 3Q: | 14 |
| Home 4Q: | 15 |
| Mvp: | Holton Ahlers (QB, East Carolina)[1] |
| Odds: | East Carolina by 7 |
| Referee: | Tuta Salaam (Big 12)[2] |
| Attendance: | 15,901 |
| Payout: | 1,374,545[3] |
| Us Network: | ESPN |
| Us Announcers: | Tiffany Greene (play-by-play), Jay Walker (analyst), and Jalyn Johnson (sideline) |
| Intl Network: | ESPN Deportes |
The 2022 Birmingham Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 27, 2022, at Protective Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama. The 16th annual Birmingham Bowl, the game featured Coastal Carolina of the Sun Belt Conference and East Carolina of the American Athletic Conference. The game began at 5:50 p.m. CST and was aired on ESPN.[4] It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by ticket sales company TicketSmarter, the game was officially known as the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl.
This was the first time that Coastal Carolina and East Carolina faced each other.[5]
See main article: 2022 Coastal Carolina Chanticleers football team.
Coastal Carolina compiled a 9–2 regular season record, 6–2 in conference play. They had a non-conference game against Virginia canceled. The Chanticleers qualified for the Sun Belt Conference Championship Game, which they lost to Troy, thus entered the bowl with a 9–3 overall record. Coastal Carolina did not face any ranked opponents during the season.
See main article: 2022 East Carolina Pirates football team.
East Carolina played to a 7–5 regular-season record, 4–4 in conference play. They faced one ranked opponent during the season, losing to NC State in their first game. The Pirates played in, and lost, the January 2015 edition of the Birmingham Bowl. They also played in, and lost, the December 2006 edition of the game, when it was known as the PapaJohns.com Bowl. They played in the 2022 Birmingham Bowl and defeated Coastal Carolina University, securing their first bowl victory since 2013.
The officials for the game were from the Big 12 Conference and were:
Referee: Tutashinda Salaam
Umpire: Sheldon Davis
Head Line Judge: Bradford Edwards
Line Judge: David Young
Field Judge: Ed Vinzant
Side Judge: Rick Ockey
Back Judge: Joel Wetzel
Center Judge: Darren Winkley
Alternate: Marvel July
Replay Official: Dee Anderson
Communicator: Terry Porter[6]
| Statistic | Coastal Carolina | East Carolina | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First downs | 20 | 24 | |
| First downs rushing | 8 | 5 | |
| First downs passing | 8 | 13 | |
| First downs penalty | 4 | 6 | |
| Third down efficiency | 5–12 | 5–11 | |
| Fourth down efficiency | 0–1 | 2–4 | |
| Total plays–net yards | 63–337 | 71–486 | |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 38–125 | 32–172 | |
| Yards per rush | 3.3 | 5.4 | |
| Yards passing | 212 | 314 | |
| Pass completions–attempts | 17–25 | 27–39 | |
| Interceptions thrown | 0 | 0 | |
| Punt returns–total yards | 1–12 | 1–0 | |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 7–108 | 5–145 | |
| Punts–average yardage | 4–38.3 | 1–0.0 | |
| Fumbles–lost | 4–3 | 0–0 | |
| Penalties–yards | 11–98 | 11–130 | |
| Time of possession | 27:45 | 32:15 |
| Chanticleers passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jarrett Guest | 6–11 | 136 | 1–0 | ||
| 10–12 | 67 | 0–0 | |||
| Bryce Archie | 1–2 | 9 | 0–0 | ||
| Chanticleers rushing | |||||
| Reese White | 11 | 67 | 1 | ||
| Braydon Bennett | 4 | 29 | 0 | ||
| CJ Beasley | 5 | 13 | 1 | ||
| 4 | 12 | 1 | |||
| Bryce Archie | 1 | 6 | 0 | ||
| Logan Adkins | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Jarrett Guest | 10 | -6 | 0 | ||
| Chanticleers receiving | |||||
| Sam Pinckney | 4 | 79 | 0 | ||
| Tyler Roberts | 1 | 47 | 1 | ||
| TJ Ivy Jr. | 2 | 29 | 0 | ||
| Reese White | 1 | 15 | 0 | ||
| Tyson Mobley | 4 | 12 | 0 | ||
| Dami'on Thompson | 1 | 9 | 0 | ||
| Patrick McSweeney | 1 | 8 | 0 | ||
| Jared Brown | 2 | 7 | 0 | ||
| CJ Beasley | 1 | 6 | 0 | ||
| Pirates passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26–38 | 300 | 5–0 | |||
| 1–1 | 14 | 0–0 | |||
| Pirates rushing | |||||
| 22 | 127 | 1 | |||
| 7 | 48 | 1 | |||
| Kamarro Edmonds | 2 | -2 | 0 | ||
| Pirates receiving | |||||
| C.J. Johnson | 7 | 83 | 1 | ||
| 6 | 72 | 2 | |||
| Jaylen Johnson | 5 | 66 | 1 | ||
| Shane Calhoun | 2 | 37 | 1 | ||
| Taji Hudson | 1 | 15 | 0 | ||
| 2 | 15 | 0 | |||
| 1 | 14 | 0 | |||
| Brock Spalding | 1 | 5 | 0 | ||
| Kamarro Edmonds | 1 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Tyler Savage | 1 | 3 | 0 | ||