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The 2023 Fenway Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 28, 2023, at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. The second edition of the Fenway Bowl featured SMU from the American Athletic Conference (The American) and Boston College from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The game began at approximately 11:00 a.m. EST and aired on ESPN. The Fenway Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by cloud storage company Wasabi Technologies and was officially known as the Wasabi Fenway Bowl.

Teams

Consistent with conference tie-ins, the game featured Boston College from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and SMU from the American Athletic Conference (The American). This was the second meeting between Boston College and SMU, their prior meeting being a 31–29 SMU victory in 1986.

The Eagles and Mustangs entered the game due to become conference opponents starting with the 2024 season, as SMU committed to join the ACC.

Boston College

Boston College finished the regular season 6–6, going 3–5 in ACC conference play. This was the Eagles' first appearance in a bowl game since the 2020 Birmingham Bowl, which they lost.

SMU

SMU finished the regular season 11–2, going 8–0 in conference play in The American. The Mustangs defeated the then 22nd-ranked Tulane, 26–14, in the AAC Championship Game, the program's first conference title since 1984 when it won a share of the Southwest Conference title. The Mustangs entered the bowl 17th in the AP poll and 24th in the College Football Playoff rankings.

This was the Mustangs' second-straight bowl appearance, having appeared in the 2022 New Mexico Bowl, which they lost.

Game summary

at Fenway Park • Boston, Massachusetts

• Date: Thursday, December 28, 2023
• Game time: 11:00 a.m. EST
• Game weather: Rain • Temperature: approx. 40 °F (4 °C) • Wind: approx. 20 mph (32 km/h)
• Game attendance: 16,238
• Referee: Kevin Mar
• TV announcers (ESPN): Chris Cotter (play-by-play), Mark Herzlich (analyst), and Sherree Burruss (sideline)
• Box score

Statistics

References

1. @FenwayBowl (December 28, 2023). "Your Wasabi Fenway Bowl Offensive MVP, Thomas Castellanos!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 28, 2023 – via Twitter.
2. @FenwayBowl (December 28, 2023). "Congratulations to this year's Defensive MVP, Kam Arnold!" (Tweet). Retrieved December 28, 2023 – via Twitter.
3. Parks, James (December 11, 2023). "College football bowl schedule, game odds, point spreads for 2023-24". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 13, 2023.
4. Austro, Ben (December 3, 2023). "2023-24 bowl officiating assignments". footballzebras.com. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
5. Straka, Dean (May 31, 2023). "2023-24 college football bowl schedule, games, dates, locations, kickoff times, TV channels". CBS Sports. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
6. Lewis, Barry (June 3, 2023). "2023-24 College Football Bowl Schedule, Dates, Times Announced". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
7. "Boston College Eagles vs. SMU Mustangs football series history". Retrieved December 3, 2023.
8. Dodd, Dennis (September 1, 2023). "Stanford, Cal, SMU join ACC: Conference membership growing to 18 schools as latest realignment domino falls". CBS Sports. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
9. Stevenson, Stefan (December 2, 2023). "SMU asserts dominance over Tulane, secures first conference championship win in 39 years". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved December 3, 2023.
10. Gartland, Dan (December 28, 2023). "Fenway Bowl Between SMU and Boston College Plagued by Horrendous Weather Conditions". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved December 31, 2023.

External links

• Game statistics at statbroadcast.com

• 2023–24 NCAA football bowl games
• Fenway Bowl
• 2023 in sports in Massachusetts
• December 2023 sports events in the United States
• Boston College Eagles football bowl games
• SMU Mustangs football bowl games