The Missouri Tigers and Kansas State Wildcats will each be going bowling this year and will face off against a couple of Big Ten opponents. The Missouri Tigers, who finished with a regular season record of 9-3, will be facing the Iowa Hawkeyes (8-4) in the Music City Bowl in Nashville on December 30th, at 1:30 pm. The Tigers will be facing an Iowa team that finished sixth in the Big Ten Conference under longtime head coach Kirk Ferentz, who is wrapping up his 26th season with the Hawkeyes.
Ferentz has led the Hawkeyes to bowl appearances in each of the last 12 seasons. Missouri is looking to finish back-to-back seasons with 10 or more victories for just the 3rd time in school history and will be without star wide receiver Luther Burden III, who declared for the NFL draft last week and announced he will miss the bowl game.
The Kansas State Wildcats are looking to end their season on a strong note after losing 3 of their final 4 games and finishing tied for 8th in the Big 12 Conference with an 8-4 record. Head coach Chris Kleiman is wrapping up his 6th season as the Wildcats head coach and his team will be appearing in their 4th straight bowl game. The Wildcats will face off against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the Rate Bowl at Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ on December 26th at 4:30PM. Rutgers finished the regular season with a 7-5 record and will be playing in their second consecutive bowl game after winning the Pinstripe bowl against the Miami Hurricanes last season. Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano led the Scarlet Knights to a 9th place finish in the Big Ten Conference.