| Game Name: | Birmingham Bowl |
| Subheader: | 15th Birmingham Bowl |
| Title Sponsor: | TicketSmarter |
| Date Game Played: | December 28 |
| Year Game Played: | 2021 |
| Football Season: | 2021 |
| Stadium: | Protective Stadium |
| City: | Birmingham, Alabama |
| Visitor School: | University of Houston |
| Visitor Name Short: | Houston |
| Visitor Nickname: | Cougars |
| Visitor Record: | 11–2 |
| Visitor Conference: | The American |
| Visitor Rank Ap: | 21 |
| Visitor Rank Coaches: | 21 |
| Visitor Rank Cfp: | 20 |
| Visitor Coach: | Dana Holgorsen |
| Visitor 1Q: | 7 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 3 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 7 |
| Home School: | Auburn University |
| Home Name Short: | Auburn |
| Home Nickname: | Tigers |
| Home Record: | 6–6 |
| Home Conference: | SEC |
| Home Coach: | Bryan Harsin |
| Home 1Q: | 0 |
| Home 2Q: | 3 |
| Home 3Q: | 10 |
| Home 4Q: | 0 |
| Mvp: | Clayton Tune (QB, Houston) |
| Odds: | Auburn by 2 |
| Referee: | Michael Mothershed (Pac-12) [1] |
| Attendance: | 47,100[2] |
| Us Network: | ESPN |
| Us Announcers: | Taylor Zarzour (play-by-play), Eric Mac Lain (analyst), and Taylor Davis (sideline) |
The 2021 Birmingham Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 28, 2021, with kickoff at 12:00 p.m. EST (11:00 a.m. local CST) and televised on ESPN.[3] It was the 15th edition of the Birmingham Bowl (after the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), and was one of the 2021–22 bowl games concluding the 2021 FBS football season. Sponsored by the TicketSmarter ticket sales company, the game was officially known as the TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl. This was the first edition of the bowl played at Protective Stadium.
Consistent with conference tie-ins, the bowl features teams from the American Athletic Conference (AAC or "The American") and the Southeastern Conference (SEC).
This was the seventh meeting between Auburn and Houston; previous to the game, the Tigers led the all-time series, 5–1.[4]
See main article: 2021 Auburn Tigers football team.
See main article: 2021 Houston Cougars football team.
| Statistic | Houston | Auburn | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First downs | 19 | 15 | |
| First downs rushing | 6 | 6 | |
| First downs passing | 12 | 8 | |
| First downs penalty | 1 | 1 | |
| Third down efficiency | 6–14 | 4–15 | |
| Fourth down efficiency | 1–2 | 1–3 | |
| Total plays–net yards | 67–398 | 66–352 | |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 26–115 | 29–125 | |
| Yards per rush | 4.4 | 4.3 | |
| Yards passing | 283 | 227 | |
| Pass completions–attempts | 26–41 | 19–37 | |
| Interceptions thrown | 2 | 0 | |
| Punt returns–total yards | 0–0 | 0–0 | |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 4–52 | 2–42 | |
| Punts–average yardage | 4–35.8 | 6–38.3 | |
| Fumbles–lost | 2–0 | 2–0 | |
| Penalties–yards | 6–34 | 3–35 | |
| Time of possession | 29:50 | 30:10 |
| Cougars passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26–40 | 283 | 2–1 | |||
| Seth Green | 0–1 | 0 | 0–1 | ||
| Cougars rushing | |||||
| 14 | 78 | 0 | |||
| Clayton Tune | 7 | 43 | 0 | ||
| Ta'Zhawn Henry | 2 | −2 | 0 | ||
| TEAM | 3 | −6 | 0 | ||
| Cougars receiving | |||||
| 10 | 150 | 0 | |||
| 5 | 65 | 1 | |||
| Christian Trahan | 3 | 30 | 0 | ||
| Jeremy Singleton | 2 | 17 | 0 | ||
| Alton McCaskill | 4 | 15 | 1 | ||
| Ta'Zhawn Henry | 2 | 6 | 0 | ||
| Tigers passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19–37 | 227 | 1–0 | |||
| Tigers rushing | |||||
| 16 | 96 | 0 | |||
| Malcolm Johnson Jr. | 2 | 24 | 0 | ||
| 5 | 17 | 0 | |||
| Ja'Varrius Johnson | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | |||
| TEAM | 1 | −3 | 0 | ||
| Demetris Robertson | 1 | −5 | 0 | ||
| T. J. Finley | 2 | −7 | 0 | ||
| Tigers receiving | |||||
| Tank Bigsby | 5 | 68 | 0 | ||
| 4 | 57 | 1 | |||
| John Samuel Shenker | 5 | 54 | 0 | ||
| Ja'Varrius Johnson | 1 | 20 | 0 | ||
| Demetris Robertson | 2 | 15 | 0 | ||
| Shedrick Jackson | 2 | 13 | 0 | ||