1999 Mobile Alabama Bowl

The 1999 Mobile Alabama Bowl was an American college football bowl game. It was part of the 1999 NCAA Division I-A football season, and was the inaugural edition to the game (which was later renamed the GMAC Bowl). It was played on December 22, 1999, and featured the 8-3 East Carolina Pirates (Coaches/ESPN No. 20) of Conference-USA, and the 7-4 TCU Horned Frogs of the Western Athletic Conference. The game was played at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile.

East Carolina opened the scoring with a 58 yard touchdown pass from quarterback David Garrard to wide receiver Arnie Powell. TCU running back LaDainian Tomlinson scored on a 2 yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7 after 1 quarter. Casey Printers fired a 21 yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, and the Horned Frogs took a 14-7 lead. LaDainian Tomlinson (124 yards rushing) scored on a 3 yard touchdown run before halftime, to give TCU a 21-7 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, Jamie Wilson scored on a 13 yard touchdown run to bring East Carolina to 21-14. Russell Gary scored on an interception return to give TCU a 28-14 lead. TCU, which alternated between the quarterbacks Casey Printers and Patrick Batteaux, made it impossible for the Pirates to adjust to the variance of play styles between the drop back passer Printers and the option running Batteaux. The Frogs defense completely shut down the Pirates' running game, holding them to minus-16 yards. TCU held on to that lead to win the game by that margin, and TCU was the champion of the first ever Mobile Alabama Bowl.