MADISON, Wis. – For the 13th consecutive year, the Wisconsin Badgers are going bowling. And for the fifth-straight season, that bowl game will take place in January. It was announced today that No. 17 UW (10-3, 7-1 Big Ten) will take on 19th-ranked Auburn (8-4, 4-4 SEC) in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida, on Jan. 1 at 11 a.m. CT. The game will be televised by ESPN2.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be selected to play in the Outback Bowl and a great reward for our players and the terrific season they have had,” head coach Gary Andersen said. “Tampa is a great destination for our team and fans and Auburn is a very quality opponent from a great conference. We are looking forward to the matchup.”
Wisconsin’s current 13-year bowl streak is tied for the seventh-longest active streak in the country. The Badgers are also just one of two teams to play in a January bowl game each of the last five years (Alabama is the other).
Outside of the New Year’s Six bowl matchups, the Outback Bowl is one of just two bowl games to feature two top-20 teams.
This will be Wisconsin’s fifth appearance in the Outback Bowl. UW defeated Duke, 34-20, in 1995 in the then-Hall of Fame Bowl. In 1998, Georgia defeated Wisconsin, 33-6. The Badgers fell to Georgia again, 24-21, in 2005 then lost to Tennessee, 21-17, in their last appearance in Tampa, in 2008.
UW and Auburn have squared off three times prior to this season. The two teams tied 7-7 in 1931 in Madison. They met in the 2003 Music City Bowl, with the Tigers prevailing 28-14. Two years later, Wisconsin upset No. 7 Auburn, 24-10, in the Capital One Bowl in head coach Barry Alvarez’s final game.