The 2020 Citrus Bowl was a 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, 2020, with kickoff at 1:00 p.m. EST on ABC. It was the 74th edition of the Citrus Bowl, and was one of the 2019–20 bowl games concluding the 2019 FBS football season. Sponsored by

Vrbo Vrbo ( ) operates an online marketplace for vacation rentals. It was originally known as Vacation Rentals by Owner or VRBO. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is owned by Expedia Group. History The VRBO website was created by David Clou ...

, a vacation rental marketplace owned by the

HomeAway HomeAway was a vacation rental marketplace. It operated through 50 websites in 23 languages through which it offered rentals of cabins, condos, castles, villas, barns, and farmhouses. Founded in February 2005 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, ...

division of

Expedia Expedia Inc. is an online travel agency owned by Expedia Group, an American online travel shopping company based in Seattle. The website and mobile app can be used to book airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruise ships, and vacat ...

, the game was officially known as the Vrbo Citrus Bowl.

Teams

The game featured the Michigan Wolverines from the

Big Ten Conference 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

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a me ...

from 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 ...

(SEC). This was the fifth meeting between the two programs; entering the game, the series was tied, 2–2. Most recently they met in the 2012 Cowboys Classic in Arlington, Texas, won by Alabama, 41–14.

Michigan Wolverines

Michigan entered the game with a 9–3 record (6–3 in conference), ranked 17th in 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 ...

. They finished in third place in the Big Ten's East Division. The Wolverines were 2–3 against ranked opponents, defeating

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 th ...

and Notre Dame while losing to

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 ...

, Penn State, and

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. This was Michigan's sixth Citrus Bowl appearance; they were 4–1 in prior appearances. This was Michigan's 48th bowl game appearance, the 11th-highest total all-time among FBS schools.

Alabama Crimson Tide

Alabama entered the game with a 10–2 record (6–2 in conference), tied for ninth in the AP Poll. They finished in second place in the SEC's West Division. The Crimson Tide were 1–2 against ranked opponents, defeating

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

while losing to

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

and Auburn. This was Alabama's third Citrus Bowl appearance; they were 2–0 in prior appearances.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

*
Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Michigan Wolverines bowl game navbox Citrus Bowl Citrus Bowl (game) Alabama Crimson Tide football bowl games Michigan Wolverines football bowl games Citrus Bowl Citrus Bowl