The 2022 Boca Raton Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 20, 2022, with kickoff at 7:35 p.m. EST and televised on ESPN. The game featured the Toledo Rockets, representing the Mid-American Conference, and the Liberty Flames, an FBS independent. It was the ninth edition of the Boca Raton Bowl, and was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by RoofClaim.com, the game was officially known as the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl.
Defense proved to be the theme of the first half, as Liberty punted on their first drive and Toledo's first resulted in a turnover on downs. The game's first touchdown came on Liberty's second drive, by virtue of a 9-yard Shedro Louis rush with just over four minutes remaining in the first quarter. From there, only one drive for the rest of the half produced a score: a Toledo field goal four minutes into the second quarter. The rest of the drives resulted in punts until Liberty's final drive was cut short by halftime. Toledo's offense started the second half quickly with a touchdown drive to take the lead, and they forced a Liberty fumble and turned it into a field goal of their own, increasing their lead to six points. Liberty missed a chance at narrowing their deficit with a failed 32-yard field goal attempt late in the third quarter and Toledo scored to make their lead 14 points shortly thereafter. Liberty responded with a touchdown of their own but missed the extra point. A touchdown by Liberty with under four minutes to play narrowed Toledo's lead to two points but the Rockets were able to run out the clock and secure a 21–19 victory.
Teams
The Boca Raton Bowl was played between Toledo, from the Mid-American Conference, and Liberty, an FBS independent. This was the fourth meeting between the two teams; the Rockets had won all three of their previous meetings, with the last coming in 2007 at the Glass Bowl.
Liberty Flames
Liberty began their season with wins over Southern Miss, in four overtimes, and UAB. The Flames then lost to No. 23 Wake Forest, before getting back on track and winning six straight games against Akron, Old Dominion, UMass, Gardner–Webb, BYU, and Arkansas. The Flames then dropped close games against UConn and Virginia Tech. To conclude their regular season, Liberty suffered a five-touchdown loss to New Mexico State. The Flames ended the regular season at 8–4.
The Flames, an FBS independent, were coached by interim head coach Josh Aldridge for this bowl game, following the departure of Hugh Freeze to the head coaching position at Auburn. This will be Liberty's final game as an FBS independent, as the Flames are set to join Conference USA in 2023. Liberty entered the game with a 3–0 record in bowl games.
Toledo Rockets
Toledo began their season strong, with dominant wins over LIU and UMass, though they suffered a large loss to Ohio State and lost a close game to San Diego State. The Rockets then won three straight games, against Central Michigan, Northern Illinois, and Kent State. Toledo then dropped a close game against Buffalo, but recovered to beat Eastern Michigan and Ball State. The Rockets dropped a close game against rival Bowling Green, and lost the last game of their regular season to Western Michigan. They finished the regular season co-champions of the MAC West Division with Eastern Michigan, though they advanced to the MAC Championship because they owned the tiebreaker between the two teams. In the title game, Toledo defeated Ohio to claim the MAC championship. The Rockets entered the bowl game 8–5 and 5–3 in MAC games.
This is Toledo's second time playing in the Boca Raton Bowl; the first time was in 2015 when they defeated No. 24 Temple.
Game summary
The Boca Raton Bowl was televised by ESPN, with a commentary team of Anish Shroff, Tim Hasselbeck, and Marilyn Payne. The ESPN Radio broadcast was commentated by Chris Carlin and Rene Ingoglia. The game's officiating crew, representing Conference USA, was led by referee Patrick Foy and umpire Anthony Britt. At kickoff, the weather at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida, the site of the game, was and sunny.