Shula Bowl

Shula Bowl
Florida Atlantic Owls FIU Panthers
Sport(s)	Football
Total meetings	12
First meeting	November 23, 2002 FAU 31, FIU 21
Last meeting	November 29, 2013 FAU 21, FIU 6
Next meeting	2014
Largest win	46; FIU (2005)
Longest win streak	5; FAU (2006-2010)
Current win streak	1; FAU
Trophy	Don Shula Award

The Shula Bowl is an annual college football rivalry game between the Florida Atlantic University Owls and the Florida International University Panthers. The game's winner receives a traveling trophy, the "Don Shula Award," for one year. The current winner is FAU, winning 21-6 on 29 November 2013. Florida Atlantic leads the all-time series nine games to three.^[1]

The game and trophy are named after former Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula. Don Shula was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 1970 to 1995. Each school's first head coach has previous ties to Don Shula. Florida Atlantic's first head coach Howard Schnellenberger was an assistant of Shula in the 1970s, and FIU's first head coach Don Strock, was a player under Shula in the 1970s and 1980s.^[2] Don Shula set numerous records as head coach of the Miami Dolphins and his legacy is seen throughout the Miami area. The Shula Bowl pays homage to Shula, to south Florida football and the ties and history of both universities.

Game location

The Shula Bowl was first played at Sun Life Stadium, then known as Pro Player Stadium, in present day Miami Gardens, Florida on 23 November 2002. The game alternates between Florida Atlantic and FIU's home fields. Until 2010, Florida Atlantic used Pro Player Stadium (later renamed Dolphin Stadium in 2006) as their home field, where FIU has always used FIU Stadium on the FIU campus as its home field. In 2007, FIU used the Miami Orange Bowl in Little Havana, Miami as its home field, while FIU Stadium was undergoing an expansion. The 2007 game was played in the final months of the Orange Bowl before being demolished for the construction of Marlins Park.^[3] beginning in 2012, Florida Atlantic used its newly built FAU Stadium in Boca Raton as its home field, marking the first time the Shula Bowl was played on both rival schools' campuses.

Television

For years the game was telecast on the ESPN family of networks through an agreement to broadcast games in the Sun Belt Conference. In 2013, both schools moved to Conference USA, and the game was instead aired on Fox Sports 1, as C-USA does not currently air games on the ESPN networks (save for the conference championship game).

Game results

The Shula Award, which is presented to the winner of the Shula Bowl.

Gallery

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  FIU flag flown at Shula Bowl VII

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  Florida Atlantic flag

References