The 2018 Citrus Bowl was an American college football

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 Subdivi ...

played on January 1, 2018, at

Camping World Stadium Camping World Stadium is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, located in the West Lakes neighborhood of Downtown Orlando, west of new sports and entertainment facilities including the Amway Center, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, ...

in Orlando, Florida. This was the 72nd edition of a game that has been played annually since 1946, under several different names. It was one of the 2017–18 NCAA football bowl games concluding the

2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in 2017. The regular season began on August 26, 2017, and end ...

. The game was nationally televised on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. Sponsored by Overton's, a boating and marine supply retailer, the game was officially known as the Citrus Bowl presented by Overton's.

Teams

The game featured the independent

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

and the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

; both teams finished the 2017 season with 9–3 records, and both teams finished in the top-20 of all major polls. Notre Dame, making their first appearance in the Citrus Bowl, was the designated visiting team. LSU, the designated home team, appeared in the game for the second season in a row, and fifth time overall. For the second year in a row, no

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 ...

team appeared in the Citrus Bowl; since

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

committed to the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

, the Citrus Bowl was allowed to pick Notre Dame or an Atlantic Coast Conference team. This was the fourth bowl meeting between the Fighting Irish and Tigers, with LSU winning twice previously, and Notre Dame once. LSU prevailed 27–9 in the

1997 Independence Bowl The 1997 Independence Bowl was a college football postseason bowl rematch between the LSU Tigers and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Background The Tigers had finished 2nd in the Western Division of the SEC. The Irish went from 1–4 early in th ...

, and 41–14 in the 2007 Sugar Bowl, and Notre Dame won 31–28 in the

2014 Music City Bowl The 2014 Music City Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 30, 2014 at LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee. The 17th edition of the Music City Bowl began at approximately 2:00 p.m. CST and was broadcast nationally ...

. Notre Dame and LSU met eight times in the regular season between 1970 and 1998, with the Irish holding a 5–3 edge.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame came into the game with a 9–3 record, having lost to

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 ...

, Miami (Florida), and Stanford. Each team they lost to was ranked in the top 20 of the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

at the time they played.

LSU

LSU came into the game with a 9–3 record overall, 6–2 in the SEC. Their two SEC losses were to

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

and

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

(who was ranked number one in the

at the time). Their one non-conference loss was to

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

of the Sun Belt Conference.

Game summary

Scoring summary

Statistics

References

{{Notre Dame Fighting Irish bowl game navbox Citrus Bowl Citrus Bowl (game) LSU Tigers football bowl games Notre Dame Fighting Irish football bowl games Citrus Bowl Citrus Bowl