Indiana Football: Hoosiers off to Jacksonville, land in Gator Bowl vs Tennessee

The Indiana football program received the news on Sunday that it will head to the Gator Bowl and face off against Tennessee.

For the first time since 2016, Indiana football fans will be cheering for its team in a bowl game, as it was announced on Sunday afternoon that the Hoosiers will head to the Gator Bowl to face off against Tennessee.

Coach Tom Allen, who led the Hoosiers to its first eight win season since 1994, will take Indiana to one of its most prestigious bowl games in Indiana football history.

The Gator Bowl, which will be played on January 2, is just the third New Year’s bowl in Indiana history, and will be played in one of the biggest recruiting areas for the program, in Florida. Its first appearance in a Florida bowl in program history, it will be a great environment as 23 players on the Indiana roster reside from Florida.

Indiana, sitting at 8-4, will take on the Tennessee Volunteers, coming off of a 7-5 regular season. The Hoosiers, who have only played Tennessee once in program history, will look to even the series at one a piece after falling to the Volunteers 27-22 in the 1988 Peach Bowl.

A 3-8 all-time record in bowl games, Indiana will look to get its first bowl victory since the 1991 Copper Bowl against Baylor.

For their third bowl game in the past five seasons, the Hoosiers previous two bowl games have been decided by just five total points.

Already a record season for the Hoosiers, they will go for their ninth win on the season, something only two other Indiana football teams have done in program history.

Dating back to the program’s first bowl in 1968 (Rose Bowl), this is by far the most prestigious bowl game that the Indiana program has played in since.