Missouri Tigers Will Play Minnesota Golden Gophers in 2015 Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl

It was announced on Sunday afternoon that the 10-3 Missouri Tigers will face the 8-4 Minnesota Golden Gophers in the 2015 Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl, to be played on New Year’s Day at 1PM Eastern/12PM Central in the newly-renovated Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium.

The game, which was known as the CapitalOne Bowl from 2003 to 2014, in past years has often awarded the biggest payout of any non-BCS bowl, so the Tigers getting into it should be financially beneficial. In addition, it will be some quality television exposure, as the game is one of the first to kick off on New Year’s Day.

The Citrus Bowl Stadium, which was basically gutted during 2014 during a $38 million-dollar construction project, now features an entirely new lower bowl and seats as many as 65,194 people. Obviously, this will be the first bowl game to take place in the newly-renovated stadium.

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The Tigers and Gophers have met eight times during the respective programs’ histories, but they have not played since 1970. Missouri has not lost to Minnesota since 1945, as they’ve won in the past three meetings. The all time record of the series is 4-3-1 in favor of the Tigers.

Minnesota, which at times has been a popular destination for St. Louis-area recruits, does not currently boast any players from Missouri, while Mizzou’s only Minnesota native is backup offensive lineman Mitch Hall (not to be confused with Arkansas native Mitch Hall, who is a rotational guard on the Tigers’ line).

Though the Tigers still have yet to gain enough respect and momentum to participate in either the new College Football Playoff or one of the former BCS games, they have definitely gotten to participate in some of the premier bowl games recently. Mizzou went to the Cotton Bowl Classic for the second time in seven years following the 2013 season. That game, which had its reputation boosted when it moved into AT&T Stadium in Dallas, is now part of the six-game rotation for the College Football Playoff.