It’s New Year’s Eve Eve and all that means is we’re watching college football. We wrap up our Friday night with the Orange Bowl, featuring two teams that had eyes on the College Football Playoff, but fell a little short. The No. 6 Michigan Wolverines (10-2) take on the No. 11-ranked Florida State Seminoles (9-3).
As always, scroll on down for the live blog. Keep reading for the press release from Michigan.
MIAMI, Fla. — The No. 6-ranked University of Michigan football team will be heading to Florida over the holiday season for the second year in a row, to face No. 11-ranked Florida State University football team in the 2016 Capital One Orange Bowl on Dec. 30. This will be the Wolverines’ third appearance in the Orange Bowl.
The Wolverines (10-2, 7-2 Big Ten) will kick off against the Seminoles (9-3, 5-3 ACC) at 8:10 p.m. EST from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens. The bowl match-up will be televised nationally by ESPN.
U-M will be seeking its second all-time victory over Florida State. The Wolverines earned a victory against the Seminoles in a 1986 regular-season match-up in Ann Arbor, and fell to FSU in a regular-season game in 1991.
The Wolverines started off the season with nine straight victories before falling at Iowa on the game’s final play. Michigan rebounded with a victory against Indiana before a season-ending setback at No. 2 Ohio State in double overtime. The Wolverines have been ranked in the top 10 of the national polls for the entirety of the season and lists No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
The Seminoles, led by Jimbo Fisher, finished third in the Atlantic Division of the ACC. Listed as the No. 11 team in the College Football Playoff rankings, the Seminoles suffered losses this year against No. 13-ranked Louisville, North Carolina and the playoff-bound No. 2 Clemson Tigers. FSU is led by RB Dalvin Cook, QB Deondre Francois, OL Roderick Johnson, DB Tarvarus McFadden and DE DeMarcus Walker.
The Wolverines have compiled a 1-1 record in their previous two appearances in the Orange Bowl. Michigan lost to Oklahoma (14-6) in the 1976 game. The program’s last appearance in the Orange Bowl came in 2000 in which the Maize and Blue defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide (35-34) in overtime.
Following is some background on Michigan’s bowl game history:
• U-M will be making its 45th all-time bowl appearance, the 11th highest total all-time among FBS schools.
• Eight of the Wolverines’ 45 all-time bowl appearances have come in December, with the remaining 37 contests coming in January.
• Michigan has played in 11 different bowl games during its history, winning 21 times, which is 15th highest win total among FBS schools.
• This will be the 40th time that Michigan faces a current member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. U-M holds a 29-9-1 record all-time against teams that currently compete in the ACC.
• U-M has faced off against an ACC opponent during bowl season three times, claiming a 2-1 mark. The Wolverines defeated Virginia Tech in the 2012 Sugar Bowl (23-20 in OT) and North Carolina State in 1994 Hall of Fame Bowl (42-7) and lost to North Carolina in the 1979 Gator Bowl (17-15).
The game is on ESPN at 8 pm. Watch it with me.
