Sights and sounds from the Liberty Bowl Team Welcome Party

The Rice Owls and Mississippi State Bulldogs broke bread tonight at the AutoZone Liberty Bowl official Team Welcome Party in downtown Memphis, Tenn. The two teams enjoyed barbecue at AutoZone Park, home of the St. Louis Cardinals’ Triple-A minor league baseball team, the Memphis Redbirds.

After dinner, the teams competed in three lighthearted competitions: a barbecue eating contest, an NCAA X-Box Rice vs. Mississippi State game and then a singing competition.

In the food contest, the Bulldogs’ Damien Robinson ate a rack of ribs in 90 seconds to beat the Owls’ Matt Simonette, who had a few ribs left when Robinson laid down his final bone. Before the competition, the chef said that it would likely take the two contestants about six minutes. It seemed to be over before it began.

Minutes later, it was time for Rice’s Cole Hunt to take an X-Box controller and face the Bulldogs in an NCAA football match on the gaming system. Hunt had the Owls leading 7-3 late, but with 1:53 left in the fourth quarter, Mississippi State struck to take a 10-7 lead. In dramatic fashion and with time running out on the clock, Hunt’s Owls scored a touchdown with only eight seconds left, and the X-Box Owls beat the X-Box Bulldogs 14-10.

With the competition then tied at 1-1, the night ended with a singing contest that pitted Rice’s Gabe Baker’s rendition of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” against a Mississippi State duo’s mashup of songs. After the singers finished their acts, some additional Mississippi State singers asked to jump into the competition. After a few more performances by both teams, the judges decided to call it a draw and said they’d leave it to Tuesday night’s Liberty Bowl to decide the winner.

The Owls will play Mississippi State in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl at 3 p.m. Dec. 31. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN. Rice News will be posting daily stories, videos and pictures of the Owls’ adventures in Memphis and game preparations on its Liberty Bowl Central page. A list of alumni watch parties across the country can be found here. If you tweet about the Owls during bowl week, please use the hash tag #RiceFight.