The 2016 Outback Bowl was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

that was played on January 1, 2016, at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida that opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football program. The se ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

. It was the 30th edition of the

Outback Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, usually on New Year's Day. The event has been formerly called the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 to ...

(previously called the Hall of Fame Bowl), featuring the #13

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private university in the conference. Northwestern ...

from the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

and the #23

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity college athletics, intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in NCAA Division I, ...

from the SEC. It was one of the 2015–16 bowl games that concluded the 2015 FBS football season, with kickoff at noon EST on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially fo ...

. It was sponsored by the

Outback Steakhouse Outback Steakhouse is an American chain of Australian-themed casual dining restaurants, serving American cuisine, based in Tampa, Florida. The chain has over 1,000 locations in 23 countries throughout North and South America, Asia, and Australia ...

restaurant franchise.

Teams

Northwestern

Northwestern, ranked #13 in the nation, finished the regular season with a 10–2 record, losing two consecutive games mid-season to ranked teams,

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

. The Wildcats finished second in the Big Ten's western division behind Iowa. Northwestern was led by quarterback

Clayton Thorson Clayton James Thorson (born June 15, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Houston Gamblers (2022), Houston Gamblers of the United States Football League (2022), United States Football League (USFL). He was drafted by the Philadelphi ...

, with support from runningback Justin Jackson.

Pat Fitzgerald Patrick William Fitzgerald Jr. (born December 2, 1974) is the current head coach of the Northwestern University Wildcats football team. He was selected after the unexpected death of Randy Walker and announced at a press conference on July 7, 2 ...

was in his tenth year as Northwestern's head coach.

Tennessee

After starting the season ranked as high as #23 in the country, Tennessee went 3–4, losing two of three close games to higher-ranked teams and having fourth-quarter leads in all four losses, before winning their last five games of the season. The Volunteers won against then-ranked #19

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and lost only one game in the remainder of the SEC schedule, which was to eventual National Champion Alabama. Tennessee is led by quarterback

Joshua Dobbs Robert Joshua Dobbs (born January 26, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Tennessee, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth rou ...

, with support from running backs

Jalen Hurd Jalen Tyler Hurd (born January 23, 1996) is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent. He played college football at Tennessee for three years and Baylor for one year. Early years Hurd played football at Beech Senior High Sch ...

and

Alvin Kamara Alvin Mentian Kamara (born July 25, 1995) is an American football running back for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Tennessee after transferring from Hutchinson Community College and wa ...

, as well as

Evan Berry Evan Lawrence Berry (born November 4, 1995) is an American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers football team. While primarily a safety, he was selected to All-America te ...

and

Cameron Sutton Cameron Amir Sutton (born February 27, 1995) is an American football cornerback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Tennessee, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round o ...

on special teams. The Volunteers are coached by

Butch Jones Lyle Allen "Butch" Jones Jr. (born January 17, 1968) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach at Arkansas State University. Jones previously served as a special assistant to the head coach and offensive analyst at the Univ ...

in his third year.

Series history

In their only series game, the

1997 Florida Citrus Bowl The 1997 Florida Citrus Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 1997, at the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. The game featured the Northwestern Wildcats and the Tennessee Volunteers. Background This was the Volunt ...

, Tennessee won 48–28.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Source:

Statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Outback Bowl, 2016 2015–16 NCAA football bowl games

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2016 Outback Bowl 2016 Outback Bowl January 2016 sports events in the United States 2016 in sports in Florida 21st century in Tampa, Florida