For the second consecutive bowl game, the Michigan State football team will be headed west to California. The Spartans will be playing in the Redbox Bowl on New Year’s Eve against the Oregon Ducks.
🍿🏈 Coming Soon – A New Year's Eve matinee featuring @oregonfootball and @MSU_Football!#RedboxBowl #Pac12FB #B1GFootball
📰: https://t.co/YLb3HPRuQz
🎟:https://t.co/uCXjayVvtb pic.twitter.com/4yOXjW1Hoz— Redbox Bowl (@RedboxBowl) December 2, 2018
The Redbox Bowl will be held in Santa Clara, California at Levi Stadium and played at 3 pm ET/12 pm PT on Monday, December 31st. Ryan Oppelt, executive director of the Redbox Bowl, released the following statement about the two teams:
“The Redbox Bowl is thrilled to welcome two storied college football brands with shared history like Oregon and Michigan State to play in front of a primetime national audience at Levi’s Stadium. The Ducks and Spartans have large alumni contingents in the Bay Area so we couldn’t ask for a better way to kick off an incredible week of post-season football in the Bay Area that will culminate with the CFP National Championship on January 7th.”
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The Michigan State football team finished the season with a 7-5 overall record and a 5-4 record in Big Ten play, finishing fourth in the East Division. While the Spartans defense is one of the best in the country, ranked No. 14 in total defense according to NCAA.com, their offense has been one of the worst.
The Ducks are 8-4 overall and 5-4 in the Pac-12 North, finishing fourth in the division. Quarterback Justin Herbert has 2,985 passing yards with 28 touchdowns and eight interceptions this season according to ESPN. The 6-foot-6, 233-pound junior was ranked by ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. as the eighth overall prospect in his 2019 NFL Draft Big Board.
The matchup between Herbert and the Spartan defense should be fun to watch, but it’s likely that Michigan State’s offense will continue to struggle against the Duck’s defense.
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This will be Michigan State football’s 11th bowl game under head coach Mark Dantonio, the most bowl games of any coach in the program’s history. It will be MSU’s 28th all-time appearance in a bowl game. The Spartans are 12-15 all-time in bowl games and 5-5 under Dantonio. Dantonio’s five bowl wins, including last year’s Holiday Bowl against No. 18 Washington State, are also a school record.
This will be the first meeting between the Spartans and the Ducks since 2015. MSU defeated Oregon 31 to 28 in a thrilling game at Spartan Stadium. Both teams were ranked in the top 10; Michigan State was ranked No. 5 and Oregon was ranked No. 7. You can check out the highlight clip below courtesy of the Big Ten Network:
The two programs have met a total of six times previously, with the series tied at three games each. This will be the first time Michigan State and Oregon have played each other in a bowl game.
In August of this year, the teams announced that they would meet in a home-and-home series set for 2029 and 2030.