2021 Myrtle Beach Bowl presented by TaxAct | |||||||||||||||||||
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2nd Myrtle Beach Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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Date | December 20, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||
Season | 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||
Stadium | Brooks Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||
Location | Conway, South Carolina | ||||||||||||||||||
MVP | Davis Brin (QB, Tulsa) | ||||||||||||||||||
Favorite | Tulsa by 7.5 | ||||||||||||||||||
Referee | Cal McNeill (Mountain West)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Attendance | 6,557 | ||||||||||||||||||
United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
Network | ESPN | ||||||||||||||||||
Announcers | Mike Corey (play-by-play), Hutson Mason (analyst), Marty Smith and Ryan McGee (sideline) | ||||||||||||||||||
International TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
Network | ESPN Brazil | ||||||||||||||||||
Announcers | Matheus Pinheiro (play-by-play) and Weinny Eirado (analyst) | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2021 Myrtle Beach Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 20, 2021, at Brooks Stadium in Conway, South Carolina. The second edition of the Myrtle Beach Bowl, the game featured the Old Dominion Monarchs of Conference USA and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane of the American Athletic Conference. The game began at 2:30 p.m. EST and was televised on ESPN.[2] It was one of the 2021–22 bowl games concluding the 2021 FBS football season. Tax preparation software company TaxAct served as the game's presenting sponsor; the game was officially known as the Myrtle Beach Bowl presented by TaxAct.
Both teams entered the contest with identical records of 6–6 overall and 5–3 in their respective conferences, and both entered on winning streaks of multiple games. Old Dominion won the final five games of their regular season, while Tulsa finished their regular season on a three-game winning streak; both programs achieved bowl eligibility with wins in their final regular season game. Tulsa was favored to win the game, as they entered the game favored to win by 7.5 points. The game was expected to see a close matchup between Tulsa's rushing offense and Old Dominion's rushing defense, both of which finished third in their conferences.
The game started quickly, as LaMareon James returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown; Tulsa responded with two scores of their own in the first quarter, which also saw Old Dominion miss a field goal. Both offenses saw fewer success in the game's second and third quarters; each team scored a field goal from similar distance in the second quarter – Tulsa led by seven points at halftime – while Tulsa added two additional field goals in the third quarter. The Golden Hurricane lead grew to as much as twenty points in the fourth quarter after a 4-yard passing touchdown, though Old Dominion scored the game's final touchdown with just over seven minutes to play. Tulsa was able to run the final minutes off the clock and secure a 30–17 win, the eleventh bowl win in their program's history.