as a result. Notable games One of the most memorable games in Independence Bowl history was the 2000 edition, the "snow bowl" game between Texas A&M and Mississippi State. The game was originally publicized as a reunion game, since Mississippi State coach Jackie Sherrill had served as A&M's coach for seven seasons in the 1980s and led them to three conference titles. However, the weather quickly dominated the storyline as a rare and significant snowstorm hit Shreveport. In the midst of the snow, Mississippi State rallied to an overtime win over A&M. The bowl has intermittently hosted ranked teams; the first (and to date, only) matchup between ranked opponents (per the AP Poll) was the 1993 edition between No. 22 Virginia Tech and No. 21 Indiana. The highest ranked team to appear was No. 12 BYU in the 2021 edition. The only tie game in Independence Bowl history was the 1990 edition, between Louisiana Tech and Maryland. The only overtime game has been the aforementioned 2000 edition, between Texas A&M and Mississippi State. The 2015 edition set a college football bowl record with 76 points scored in one half, occurring in the first half between Tulsa and Virginia Tech. In 2020, the Independence Bowl issued the first invitation of the bowl season, to Army, in late October. However, the game was ultimately canceled, when organizers were left without an opponent for Army, as there were insufficient teams available to fill all bowl slots. Army was later placed in the Liberty Bowl. Title sponsor In 1990, the contest became one of the earliest college bowl games to use a title sponsor, becoming the Poulan Weed-Eater Independence Bowl. Poulan (then a division of AB Electrolux Home Products, now Husqvarna AB) sponsored the game through the 1997 edition. Newell Rubbermaid's Sanford brand of writing products took over sponsorship from 1998 until 2000, while MainStay Investments sponsored from 2001 to 2003. In January 2005, the Deja Vu chain of "gentlemen's clubs" offered to become the title sponsor. The offer was rejected. The Independence Bowl's three-year search for a title sponsor ended on August 21, 2006, when PetroSun Inc., a Phoenix, Arizona-based company that provides services and products to suppliers of oil and gas, agreed to become the bowl's sponsor. The deal, changing the game's full name to the PetroSun Independence Bowl, was to have run through 2008 with an option for 2009; however the