ORLANDO, Fla. — The matchups for Orlando’s bowl games were announced as part of Bowl Selection Sunday  —  with the 14th-ranked Northwestern Wildcats coming to town to face Auburn on New Year’s Day in the 2021 Vrbo Citrus Bowl on January 1 and No. 18 Miami selected to play No. 21 Oklahoma State in the 2020 Cheez-It Bowl on December 29.

What You Need To Know

  • No. 14 Northwestern to play Auburn in Vrbo Citrus Bowl

  • No. 18 Miami will face No 21 Oklahoma State in the Cheez-It Bowl

  • Unbeaten Coastal Carolina to challenge Liberty in the Cure Bowl

At noon December 26, 23rd-ranked Liberty (9-1) will take on No. 12 Coastal Carolina (11-0, 8-0 in the Sun Belt Conference) in the Cure Bowl. Coastal Carolina is the Sun Belt champion, Liberty won last year’s Cure Bowl. They are 7-7 versus each other all-time.

The games will all be played at Camping World Stadium.

The Citrus Bowl, which will be broadcast live starting at 1 p.m. on ABC, is marking its 75th edition and only the second meeting ever between Northwestern (6-2, 6-2 in the Big Ten) and Auburn (6-4, 6-4 in the SEC).  In their previous matchup, the Tigers need overtime to defeat the Wildcats in the 2010 Outback Bowl.

The Cheez-It Bowl, to be aired at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN, is the second all-time meeting between the Hurricanes (8-2, 7-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) and the Cowboys (7-3, 6-3 in the Big 12). In their only other meeting, Miami defeated Oklahoma State in Coral Gables in October 1991.

In addition to the bowl game excitement, the bowl games are usually a major tourism draw as fans of the teams flock to town to cheer on their teams in the games and other bowl activities. Because of precautions being taken related to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is unclear how many fans will be able to attend the games this season.

A limited number of tickets to the Citrus and Cheez-It bowls are available at bigtime.games/tickets. Seats are available in clusters of two, four, six or eight, with physical distancing implemented between pods.

Florida Citrus Sports and the City of Orlando are also implementing additional procedures to ensure the safety of guests and staff members at Camping World Stadium events. To learn more about these protocols, visit floridacitrussports.com/covid.