Shiver Me Timbers: The Gasparilla Bowl

In America’s long and proud history of pirate themed Bowl Games, none can contend with the prestige and mystique of the Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl in beautiful Tampa, Florida. This year’s iteration of the game will be played at the Tampa Bay Buccaneer's home Raymond James Stadium, and will be played between the Memphis Tigers, and the North Carolina State Wolfpack.

Gasparilla: The Football Pirate

The history of the Gasparilla Bowl dates all the way back to the 18th century with Spanish pirate Jose Gaspar. While there is no evidence to suggest that Gaspar actually existed and was most likely a creation of fantasy, his legend states that he terrorized the Gulf of Mexico from 1783 to 1821 as the “Last of the Buccanneers”, and used Tampa as his home base to establish a pirate kingdom in the Gulf. Before his death in 1821, the great Gasparilla supposedly amassed an enormous amount of hidden treasure. Rather than face death at the hands of the US Navy, Gasparilla died leaping from his ship, shouting “remember me by playing football” as he fell. The people of Florida honor his memory with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and more importantly the Gasparilla Bowl.

The Gasparilla Bowl didn’t always occupy Raymond James Stadium, or be named after Gaspar. The first iteration of the game was the St. Petersburg Bowl played at Tropicana Field in 2008. The game remained there through 2017 until “The Trop” was replaced by Raymond James. A number of notable players have competed in this great bowl game, including Mohamed Sanu, Blake Bortles, Jacoby Brissett, T.Y. Hilton, Dillon Gabriel and Sam Hartman. By far the team with the most appearances in this game is the UCF Knights, who have a 3-3 record in six games. This will be the second Gasparilla Bowl for both Memphis and NC State. Despite both teams having a history of over a century of football, this will be the first time that Memphis and NC State have met in any football game.

Meet the Wolfpack

The home team on the scoreboard in this one will be the Atlantic Coast Conference’s North Carolina State Wolfpack. The team is led by Dave Doeren in his thirteenth season with the squad. His first head coaching job was back in 2011 with Northern Illinois, where he led the Huskies to consecutive MAC Championships and became the first coach to lead a MAC team to a BCS game with the 2013 Orange Bowl. At NC State, he is 94-70 and hasn’t won a bowl game since the 2016 Independence Bowl. This year, the Wolfpack finished their season 7-5, with the season’s highlight coming in a shocking upset victory over then number 8 Georgia Tech in Raleigh.

The Wolfpack is led on the field by Sophomore QB CJ Bailey, who has 2,884 yards through the air on the season and 23 passing TDs. Sacks and interceptions have been an issue, but the young field general has a lot of potential. His right hand man for most of the season has been Sophomore running back Hollywood Smothers, but the first team All-Name Team honoree has entered the transfer portal and will not be appearing in this game. Jayden Scott will be taking over primary rushing duties to add to his 487 yards and 4 TDs on the season. CJ Bailey has spread the ball relatively equally through the air this season, with his most reliable targets being Sophomore WR Terrell Anderson, and Senior TE Justin Joly. The defense is led by Senior LB Caden Fordham, who leads the team with 130 tackles, 3.5 sacks, one interception and a forced fumble recovery.

Meet the Tigers

On the other side of the field is Memphis, who currently appear to be a program in flux. After leading the team since 2020 and an 8-4 record in 2025, head coach Ryan Silverfield has been hired away to become the new head coach at Arkansas. He leaves the squad with the third most wins in program history. The interim head coach for the game will be DB coach Reggie Howard, who will be head coach in his first ever college football game on Saturday. The Tigers’ season was a fun one right until it wasn’t, with an impressive 6-0 start with a win against SEC opponent Arkansas, and a more impressive win over then number 18 South Florida. They unfortunately followed up that 8-1 start with a 2-3 finish, and a 6th place finish in the American.

The Blue and Gray are led by veteran QB Brendon Lewis, who despite being reportedly “banged up” should be playing in this one. He has 2,567 yards and 15 touchdowns on the season, and also has another 618 yards and 9 touchdowns on the ground. His most reliable target has undoubtedly been Senior wideout Cortez Braham Jr, who leads the team with 63 receptions, 889 yards and 8 touchdowns. Sutton Smith has been the leading rusher for the Tigers, and has 7 rushing touchdowns on the season. The defense is led by Senior LB Sam Brumfield who leads the team with 106 tackles, 4.5 sacks and an interception. The only confirmed opt-out for Memphis so far is CB Samson Israel, but a number of defensive backs have been lost to injury for the team and could continue to be short handed.

In the name of the late great Jose Gaspar, we plunge headfirst into the breach and honor his memory in the playing of the Gasparilla Bowl. Here, the Memphis Tigers and the NC State Wolfpack will battle it out to answer once and for all the question that has been burned into all of our minds: Who is most worthy of claiming Gasparilla’s fictional pirate treasure on Saturday? Seriously, the trophy is a pirate treasure chest. It's awesome.