LOOK: Bowl destinations for Michigan and Michigan State announced

0
611

It is now official for both, Michigan and Michigan State football fans.

The Michigan Wolverines will be heading to Tampa, Florida to take on South Carolina on New Year’s Day in the Outback Bowl. The game will be played at noon ET time at Raymond James Stadium, home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and will be televised on ESPN2.

The Wolverines finished the regular season 8-4 (5-4 Big Ten), and will be taking on a South Carolina team that also ended up with a record of 8-4 (5-3 SEC). This is Michigan’s third consecutive bowl game under head coach Jim Harbaugh, all of which will have been played in the state of Florida.

Last year, Michigan lost to Florida State, 33-32 in the Orange Bowl. This will also be the Wolverines 46th bowl appearance, good for 11th all-time in FBS, as they currently hold a bowl record of 21-24.

http://gty.im/879061780

This game will be a rematch of the 2013 Outback Bowl between these two teams, when the Gamecocks beat the Wolverines by a score of 33-28.

Meanwhile, Michigan State will be heading to San Diego, California to take on No. 18 Washington State in the Holiday Bowl. The game will be played at San Diego County Credit Union Stadium and kick off at 6 p.m. locally, 9 p.m. ET on December 28.

This comes as a bit of a surprise, and a bit of a disappointment to most Spartan fans who were anticipating a New Year’s Day bowl game in Florida. However, when the Big Ten missed out on the playoff, Wisconsin got demoted to the Orange Bowl. This matters because there is a rule in place that doesn’t allow a Big Ten team to participate in the Citrus Bowl (where Michigan State had been projected to play) if a Big Ten team also ends up in the Orange Bowl.

Michigan already had negotiations in place with the Outback Bowl, and as a result, Michigan State fell two bowl games to the Holiday Bowl.

http://gty.im/879190922

This is still a good bowl game for a Michigan State (9-3, 7-2 Big Ten) team that went 3-9 just a year ago. The No. 18 Spartans will oppose No. 21 Washington State, who enters the game with a record of 9-3 (6-3 PAC-12).

This will be the Spartans’ first appearance in the Holiday Bowl, and they are 5-2 all-time against the Cougars. However, the last time these two teams met was in 1977 when the Spartans lost to the Cougars 23-21.

This will be Michigan State’s 10th bowl game in 11 years under head coach Mark Dantonio, and they currently have a 4-5 bowl record under him since he took over in 2007. Overall as a program, this is 27th bowl game for MSU.