Tuesday night’s Champs Sports Bowl pits two Top-25 teams from the Atlantic Coast and Big Ten conferences against each other as No. 14/15 Miami (9-3) and No. 22/24 Wisconsin (9-3) meet up at the Citrus Bowl at 8 p.m.
With both teams vying for a 10-win season, history is not exactly on the side of the Badgers. Wisconsin returns to the Champs Sports Bowl for the second straight year after losing 42-13 a year ago to Florida State in front of 52,692 fans. With that, the ACC has won the past six games since Illinois last won it for the Big Ten, back when it was dubbed the MicronPC Bowl and was played in Miami.
This is the fourth time in five years that the Badgers have played their postseason bowl game in Orlando.
Wisconsin led the Big Ten in scoring offense this season with 32.8 points per game and is led by quarterback Scott Tolzien and the Big Ten’s top rusher in John Clay with 116.3 yards per game.
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Although the Champs Sports Bowl marks the first postseason appearance in Orlando for Miami, it’ll be the second time this season that the Hurricanes have come to town after visiting UCF during the regular season.
This game also marks the second time that Miami senior defensive tackle Joe Joseph, from Oak Ridge High School, and freshman Ray Ray Armstrong, from Seminole High School, will have the chance to play in front of family and friends. Another local talent, freshman defensive end from Seminole, Dyron Dye, redshirted at Miami this season.
The Hurricanes enter the game averaging 268.1 yards per contest through the air behind sophomore quarterback Jacory Harris. On the other side of the ball, Miami’s defense has allowed an average of 321.3 yards per game.
This year’s meeting between the two schools will be the fourth all-time and the first since back-to-back games in 1988-89, which were both won by the Hurricanes. The Badgers won the first matchup back in 1958.
Reprinted with permission of KnightNews.com’s sports partner, OrlandoSportsCentral.com. Visit OrlandoSportsCentral.com for more Knights sports news, plus all your local sports needs including: high school football, Orlando Magic and more!
