The 2024 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, 2024, 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. The 78th annual Citrus Bowl featured

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 ...

of 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

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

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 ...

(SEC). The game began at approximately 1:00 p.m. EST and was aired on ABC. The Citrus Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by

Cheez-It Cheez-It is a brand of cheese cracker manufactured by the Kellogg Company through its Sunshine Biscuits division. Approximately , the rectangular crackers are made with wheat flour, vegetable oil, cheese made with skim milk, salt, and spi ...

and was officially known as the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.

Teams

Following the release of the final

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...

(CFP) rankings, the Iowa Hawkeyes, having lost the

2023 Big Ten Football Championship Game The 2023 Big Ten Football Championship Game was a college football game played on December 2, 2023, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was the 13th edition of the Big Ten Football Championship Game and determined the champion of th ...

, were selected to play the

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

. This was the third bowl game contested between the schools. Iowa won the 1982 Peach Bowl, 2822, and Tennessee won the

2015 TaxSlayer Bowl The 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on January 2, 2015, at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. The 70th edition of the Gator Bowl featured the Iowa Hawkeyes from the Big Ten Conference and the Tennesse ...

, 4528. Entering the Citrus Bowl, Tennessee held a 21 advantage in the overall series, also winning the Kickoff Classic game, 2322, to open the 1987 season.

Iowa

Iowa entered the Citrus Bowl with a 10–3 record (7–2 in the Big Ten). They reached the Big Ten Championship, where they were shut out by

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

, 26–0. They lost to Penn State and

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

during the regular season. This was Iowa's third Citrus Bowl; the Hawkeyes posted a 1–1 record in prior editions of the game, winning the 2005 edition and losing the 2022 edition.

Tennessee

Tennessee finished the regular season with an 8–4 record (4–4 in the SEC). They lost to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

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 ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, and

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 ...

. This was Tennessee's sixth Citrus Bowl, tying six other teams for the most appearances in the game. The Volunteers posted a 4–1 record in prior Citrus Bowls, winning the

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, 1996,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and 2002 games; their loss came in the 1994 edition.

Halftime show

The Citrus Bowl halftime show featured a sponsored performance from singer Gavin DeGraw as well as performances from the University of Iowa

Hawkeye Marching Band The Hawkeye Marching Band (or HMB) is the marching band for the University of Iowa. The band performs at all home Hawkeye football games at Kinnick Stadium in addition to other events. It is the largest and most visible musical ensemble at t ...

and University of Tennessee

Pride of the Southland Band The Pride of the Southland Band is the official name of the University of Tennessee's marching band. History The Pride of the Southland Marching Band has been performing at halftime for more than 110 years, but has existed since 1869 when it ...

. The halftime show announcement initially generated controversy. Under the original halftime show plans, the Hawkeye Marching Band were to play only during pregame and the Pride of the Southland Band were to only play during halftime. This was a change from previous editions of the Citrus Bowl, which allotted time for both marching bands to play during pregame and halftime. In addition to negative social media reactions (using the hashtag "LetTheBandsPlay") receiving coverage from Iowa and Tennessee media outlets, a

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petition protesting the change (as well as similar developments in the 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl and 2023 Frisco Bowl) obtained over 5,000 signatures a day after posting. On December 10, The Citrus Bowl announced on their Twitter and Facebook pages that both marching bands would now play at pregame and halftime, issuing the following statement:

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Citrus Bowl 2023–24 NCAA football bowl games 2024 in sports in Florida Iowa Hawkeyes football bowl games Tennessee Volunteers football bowl games