Written by Joe Klawe
Florida Citrus Sports Steve Hogan and Chairman Ken Patrick announced Sunday that the North Carolina Tar Heels (11-2) and Baylor Bears (9-3) will face off in the 2015 Russell Athletic Bowl.
“This continues the growth cycle for the Russell Athletic Bowl and I think it establishes itself as one of the premiere bowls in the country,” Hogan said on the announcement of the two teams. “This should be a fireworks show, so we’re excited as we can be; we think this sets up to be one of the best television games of the season.”
Baylor and North Carolina will make their first-ever meeting this season, with the Tar Heels’ first trip to Central Florida.
A combined twenty wins marks the Russell Athletic Bowl’s second time the high-water mark has been clipped. The number owes to the Tar Heels’ eleven straight wins, undefeated ACC regular-season play, and ACC Coastal Division Championship on a 1980 school record broken in the 2015 season.
Baylor finishes first in the NCAA’s total offense (604.4 yards/game) and scoring (48.0) under head coach Art Briles.
“In a lot of respect this is going to be a top-ten matchup at full strength and that’s why we’re ready for this,” said Hogan. “When you think about Orlando and Florida Citrus Sports’ games you look at the fact at of the Power-5 conferences we have three of the top picks, outside of the New Year’s six. So ACC, Notre Dame, SEC and Big-10, we pick first after the six. We believe in most years, and so far the first two years of this new CFB era, is that you’re going to see highly ranked teams in this game and we couldn’t be more proud of what the Russell Athletic Bowl has become.”
The Russell Athletic Bowl kicks off December 29th at 5:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN.
“This continues the growth cycle for the Russell Athletic Bowl and I think it establishes itself as one of the premiere bowls in the country,” Hogan said on the announcement of the two teams. “This should be a fireworks show, so we’re excited as we can be; we think this sets up to be one of the best television games of the season.”
Baylor and North Carolina will make their first-ever meeting this season, with the Tar Heels’ first trip to Central Florida.
A combined twenty wins marks the Russell Athletic Bowl’s second time the high-water mark has been clipped. The number owes to the Tar Heels’ eleven straight wins, undefeated ACC regular-season play, and ACC Coastal Division Championship on a 1980 school record broken in the 2015 season.
Baylor finishes first in the NCAA’s total offense (604.4 yards/game) and scoring (48.0) under head coach Art Briles.
“In a lot of respect this is going to be a top-ten matchup at full strength and that’s why we’re ready for this,” said Hogan. “When you think about Orlando and Florida Citrus Sports’ games you look at the fact at of the Power-5 conferences we have three of the top picks, outside of the New Year’s six. So ACC, Notre Dame, SEC and Big-10, we pick first after the six. We believe in most years, and so far the first two years of this new CFB era, is that you’re going to see highly ranked teams in this game and we couldn’t be more proud of what the Russell Athletic Bowl has become.”
The Russell Athletic Bowl kicks off December 29th at 5:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN.