Oregon -18 (-110) over Liberty
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- Liberty played the weakest schedule in FBS football this season and they will struggle against an elite Oregon team.
- Oregon’s only losses this season came to an undefeated Washington team.
The Fiesta Bowl is one of the New Year’s Six bowl games that takes place near the end of the college football season. This cornerstone matchup during the college football bowl schedule often features two of the best teams in all of college football and is regularly a part of the playoff on a rotating basis. Here, we look at the history of the Fiesta Bowl and break down this year’s edition of the game as well.
2023 Fiesta Bowl Analysis
This year’s Fiesta Bowl features Liberty taking on Oregon, with the top Group of Five team taking on the runners-up in the Pac-12. Oregon comes into this game as a heavy favorite, with the strength of schedule for the Liberty Flames being a huge concern entering the game. Liberty’s strength of schedule ranked last among FBS teams this year, which could cause them problems against an Oregon team that was among the best in college football all year long.
The biggest question for Oregon coming into this game will be their motivation. If Oregon comes out and plays as hard as they possibly can, they could easily come out on top of this matchup by three scores or more. But if they come out flat, Liberty could take advantage and stage an upset bid of their own in the game Boise State put themselves on the map with their upset of Oklahoma.
Fiesta Bowl History
The history of the Fiesta Bowl dates back to the early 1970s, with this game being known by the same name the whole time, albeit with different sponsors. The game used to have tie-ins with the WAC and Big 12, but when it became a marquee bowl game it began to feature at-large teams that did not fit into the conference structures of games like the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. Below is the full list of Fiesta Bowl matchups all-time, including the results of each game.
| Date played | Winning team | Losing team |
| 12/27/71 | No. 8 Arizona State | Florida State |
| 12/23/72 | No. 15 Arizona State | Missouri |
| 12/21/73 | No. 10 Arizona State | Pittsburgh |
| 12/28/74 | Oklahoma State | No. 17 BYU |
| 12/26/75 | No. 7 Arizona State | No. 6 Nebraska |
| 12/25/76 | No. 8 Oklahoma | Wyoming |
| 12/25/77 | No. 8 Penn State | No. 15 Arizona State |
| 12/25/78 | No. 8 Arkansas | No. 15 UCLA |
| 12/25/79 | No. 10 Pittsburgh | Arizona |
| 12/26/80 | No. 10 Penn State | No. 11 Ohio State |
| 1/1/82 | No. 7 Penn State | No. 8 USC |
| 1/1/83 | No. 11 Arizona State | No. 12 Oklahoma |
| 1/2/84 | No. 14 Ohio State | No. 15 Pittsburgh |
| 1/1/85 | No. 14 UCLA | No. 13 Miami (Florida) |
| 1/1/86 | No. 5 Michigan | No. 7 Nebraska |
| 1/2/87 | No. 2 Penn State | No. 1 Miami (Florida) |
| 1/1/88 | No. 3 Florida State | No. 5 Nebraska |
| 1/2/89 | No. 1 Notre Dame | No. 3 West Virginia |
| 1/1/90 | No. 5 Florida State | No. 6 Nebraska |
| 1/1/91 | No. 18 Louisville | No. 25 Alabama |
| 1/1/92 | No. 6 Penn State | No. 10 Tennessee |
| 1/1/93 | No. 6 Syracuse | No. 10 Colorado |
| 1/1/94 | No. 16 Arizona | No. 10 Miami (Florida) |
| 1/2/95 | No. 4 Colorado | Notre Dame |
| 1/2/96 | No. 1 Nebraska | No. 2 Florida |
| 1/1/97 | No. 7 Penn State | No. 20 Texas |
| 12/31/97 | No. 10 Kansas State | No. 14 Syracuse |
| 1/4/99 | No. 1 Tennessee | No. 2 Florida State |
| 1/2/00 | No. 3 Nebraska | No. 6 Tennessee |
| 1/1/01 | No. 5 Oregon State | No. 10 Notre Dame |
| 1/1/02 | No. 2 Oregon | No. 3 Colorado |
| 1/3/03 | No. 2 Ohio State | No. 1 Miami (Florida) |
| 1/2/04 | No. 7 Ohio State | No. 8 Kansas State |
| 1/1/05 | No. 5 Utah | No. 19 Pittsburgh |
| 1/2/06 | No. 4 Ohio State | No. 5 Notre Dame |
| 1/1/07 | No. 9 Boise State | No. 7 Oklahoma |
| 1/2/08 | No. 11 West Virginia | No. 3 Oklahoma |
| 1/5/09 | No. 3 Texas | No. 10 Ohio State |
| 1/4/10 | No. 6 Boise State | No. 3 TCU |
| 1/1/11 | No. 9 Oklahoma | No. 25 Connecticut |
| 1/2/12 | No. 3 Oklahoma State | No. 4 Stanford |
| 1/3/13 | No. 5 Oregon | No. 7 Kansas State |
| 1/1/14 | No. 15 UCF | No. 6 Baylor |
| 12/31/14 | No. 21 Boise State | No. 12 Arizona |
| 1/1/16 | No. 7 Ohio State | No. 8 Notre Dame |
| 12/31/16 | No. 3 Clemson | No. 2 Ohio State |
| 12/30/17 | No. 9 Penn State | No. 12 Washington |
| 1/1/19 | No. 11 LSU | No. 7 UCF |
| 12/28/19 | No. 3 Clemson | No. 2 Ohio State |
| 1/2/21 | No. 12 Iowa State | No. 25 Oregon |
| 1/1/22 | No. 9 Oklahoma State | No. 5 Notre Dame |
| 12/31/22 | No. 3 TCU | No. 2 Michigan |
Bowl Game MVPs
Each year, the Fiesta Bowl awards both offensive and defensive MVPs for the game. While these typically come from the same team, there have been some exceptions to that throughout the history of the game. Below is the full list of offensive and defensive MVPs awarded during this marquee matchup at the tail end of the bowl season.
| Date played | MVPs | Team |
| 27-Dec-71 | Gary Huff | Florida State |
| Junior Ah You | Arizona State | |
| 23-Dec-72 | Woody Green | Arizona State |
| Mike Fink | Missouri | |
| 21-Dec-73 | Greg Hudson | Arizona State |
| Mike Haynes | Arizona State | |
| 28-Dec-74 | Kenny Walker | Oklahoma State |
| Phil Dokes | Oklahoma State | |
| 26-Dec-75 | John Jefferson | Arizona State |
| Larry Gordon | Arizona State | |
| 25-Dec-76 | Thomas Lott | Oklahoma |
| Terry Peters | Oklahoma | |
| 25-Dec-77 | Matt Millen | Penn State |
| Dennis Sproul | Arizona State | |
| 25-Dec-78 | James Owens | UCLA |
| Jimmy Walker | Arkansas | |
| 25-Dec-79 | Mark Schubert | Pittsburgh |
| Dave Liggins | Arizona | |
| 26-Dec-80 | Curt Warner | Penn State |
| Frank Case | Penn State | |
| 1-Jan-82 | Curt Warner | Penn State |
| Leo Wisniewski | Penn State | |
| 1-Jan-83 | Marcus Dupree | Oklahoma |
| Jim Jeffcoat | Arizona State | |
| 2-Jan-84 | John Congemi | Pittsburgh |
| Rowland Tatum | Ohio State | |
| 1-Jan-85 | Gaston Green | UCLA |
| James Washington | UCLA | |
| 1-Jan-86 | Jamie Morris | Michigan |
| Mark Messner | Michigan | |
| 2-Jan-87 | D.J. Dozier | Penn State |
| Shane Conlan | Penn State | |
| 1-Jan-88 | Danny McManus | Florida State |
| Neil Smith | Nebraska | |
| 2-Jan-89 | Tony Rice | Notre Dame |
| Frank Stams | Notre Dame | |
| 1-Jan-90 | Peter Tom Willis | Florida State |
| Odell Haggins | Florida State | |
| 1-Jan-91 | Browning Nagle | Louisville |
| Ray Buchanan | Louisville | |
| 1-Jan-92 | O.J. McDuffie | Penn State |
| Reggie Givens | Penn State | |
| 1-Jan-93 | Marvin Graves | Syracuse |
| Kevin Mitchell | Syracuse | |
| 1-Jan-94 | Chuck Levy | Arizona |
| Tedy Bruschi | Arizona | |
| 2-Jan-95 | Kordell Stewart | Colorado |
| Shannon Clavelle | Colorado | |
| 2-Jan-96 | Tommie Frazier | Nebraska |
| Michael Booker | Nebraska | |
| 1-Jan-97 | Curtis Enis | Penn State |
| Brandon Noble | Penn State | |
| 31-Dec-97 | Michael Bishop | Kansas State |
| Travis Ochs | Kansas State | |
| 4-Jan-99 | Peerless Price | Tennessee |
| Dwayne Goodrich | Tennessee | |
| 2-Jan-00 | Eric Crouch | Nebraska |
| Mike Brown | Nebraska | |
| 1-Jan-01 | Jonathan Smith | Oregon State |
| Darnell Robinson | Oregon State | |
| 1-Jan-02 | Joey Harrington | Oregon |
| Steve Smith | Oregon | |
| 3-Jan-03 | Craig Krenzel | Ohio State |
| Mike Doss | Ohio State | |
| 2-Jan-04 | Craig Krenzel | Ohio State |
| A. J. Hawk | Ohio State | |
| 1-Jan-05 | Alex Smith | Utah |
| Paris Warren | Utah | |
| Steve Fifita | Utah | |
| 2-Jan-06 | Troy Smith | Ohio State |
| A. J. Hawk | Ohio State | |
| 1-Jan-07 | Jared Zabransky | Boise State |
| Marty Tadman | Boise State | |
| 2-Jan-08 | Pat White | West Virginia |
| Reed Williams | West Virginia | |
| 5-Jan-09 | Colt McCoy | Texas |
| Roy Miller | Texas | |
| 4-Jan-10 | Kyle Efaw | Boise State |
| Brandyn Thompson | Boise State | |
| 1-Jan-11 | Landry Jones | Oklahoma |
| Jamell Fleming | Oklahoma | |
| 2-Jan-12 | Justin Blackmon | Oklahoma State |
| Justin Gilbert | Oklahoma State | |
| 3-Jan-13 | Marcus Mariota | Oregon |
| Michael Clay | Oregon | |
| 1-Jan-14 | Blake Bortles | UCF |
| Terrance Plummer | UCF | |
| 31-Dec-14 | Thomas Sperbeck | Boise State |
| Tanner Vallejo | Boise State | |
| 1-Jan-16 | J. T. Barrett | Ohio State |
| Eli Apple | Ohio State | |
| 31-Dec-16 | Deshaun Watson | Clemson |
| Clelin Ferrell | Clemson | |
| 30-Dec-17 | Trace McSorley | Penn State |
| Marcus Allen | Penn State | |
| 1-Jan-19 | Joe Burrow | LSU |
| Rashard Lawrence | LSU | |
| 28-Dec-19 | Trevor Lawrence | Clemson |
| Chad Smith | Clemson | |
| 2-Jan-21 | Brock Purdy | Iowa State |
| O’Rien Vance | Iowa State | |
| 1-Jan-22 | Spencer Sanders | Oklahoma State |
| Malcolm Rodriguez | Oklahoma State |
