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The Florida Gators and Iowa Hawkeyes will face off in the Outback Bowl on January 2nd. The game will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. Both teams are 8 and 4 on the season; the Gators are ranked number 17 while the Hawkeyes are at 21. Gator coach Jim McElwain says his team is excited to head to Tampa to play in this bowl game.
It's official! @GatorsFB and @HawkeyeFootball will be playing #FootballInParadise at the #OutbackBowl on Jan. 2! https://t.co/VOZeetxh4h pic.twitter.com/uSZ9rXfaEg
— ReliaQuest Bowl (@ReliaQuestBowl) December 4, 2016
Coming off a 54 to 16 beat down courtesy of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Florida will have a lot to prove in this bowl game. Last year, the Gators ended their season in an embarrassing fashion, losing to the Michigan Wolverines 41 to 7 in the Citrus Bowl. A loss to finish off the season is something McElwain and the Gators are looking to avoid. McElwain says the chance for an SEC and Big 10 school to face each other will be a unique experience.
Excited to be @outbackbowl bound! #GoGators pic.twitter.com/hbDaVsKMUx
— Jim McElwain (@CoachMcElwain) December 4, 2016
With four weeks until the Outback Bowl, the Gators will now have some much needed healing time. Throughout the second half of the season the injury bug has bitten Florida; week to week more and more starters seemed to be out. However, with four weeks to rest up, McElwain believes they will get back some of their key guys who were on the injury report the last few weeks. Linebacker Jarrad Davis, the leader on defense should return for the Outback Bowl, despite re-injuring his ankle during the SEC Championship. This will be Davis last game as a Gator, and we could now in the next few days and weeks exactly how many players the Gators will lose either to graduation or early entry into the NFL Draft.
Iowa did not start out the season well, losing early to North Dakota State but it does have a win over Michigan in Big 10 play and much like the Gators, the Hawkeyes have a stout defense and an inconsistent offense.
Broadcast Details
Kickoff for the game will be at 1 pm. The game will be aired on ABC and you can always hear the game on ESPN Gainesville 98.1 FM and AM 850 WRUF.
