Tracking Iowa, Big Ten football teams’ bowl destinations

Two conference teams made it into the College Football Playoff, while Penn State is heading to Pasadena.

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Jerod Ringwald

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day leads the Buckeyes onto the field during a football game between Iowa and No. 2 Ohio State at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022. The Buckeyes defeated the Hawkeyes, 54-10.

Chloe Peterson, Sports Editor


Bowl season is here, and eight Big Ten teams have been assigned games.

Iowa, which finished the season 7-5, is headed to Nashville to take on Kentucky in the Music City Bowl. The Hawkeyes and the Wildcats will match up in a bowl for the second season in a row — Kentucky beat Iowa, 20-17, in the 2022 Citrus Bowl.

Kentucky went 7-5 in the 2022 season, including a 3-5 record in the SEC.

The Hawkeyes and Wildcats will face off on Dec. 31 at 11 a.m. at Nissan Stadium — the home of the NFL’s Tennessee Titans. 

With selection Sunday over, The Daily Iowan recaps where the rest of the Big Ten’s teams landed postseason games.

Michigan: No. 2 seed in the College Football Playoff

Michigan cemented its spot in the CFP with a 43-22 victory over Purdue Saturday night in the Big Ten Championship Game. 

The Wolverines are one of two undefeated teams in the Power Five and were seeded behind undefeated reigning national champion Georgia.

Michigan will play third-seeded TCU in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. TCU is 12-1, suffering its only loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 Championship Game. This will be Michigan and TCU’s first-ever meeting.

Ohio State: No. 4 seed in the College Football Playoff

The Buckeyes squeaked into the CFP, becoming the only team in the 2022 playoff that did not appear in a conference championship game. 

The Buckeyes fell to the Wolverines, 45-23, in the final week of the regular season at Ohio Stadium in Columbus to lose out on a Big Ten East Division title. 

The Buckeyes are 11-1 on the season and will play Georgia in the Peach Bowl at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta at 7 p.m.

Ohio State has competed in six CFP games since the playoff’s inception in 2014, but it has never played Georgia with a national title on the line. The Buckeyes’ only meeting with the Bulldogs came in the 1993 Citrus Bowl, where Georgia prevailed, 21-14. 

The winners of Michigan-TCU and Ohio State-Georgia will head to the national title game at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Jan. 9, 2023. 

Penn State: Rose Bowl

Penn State was the highest-ranked Big Ten team to not qualify for the CFP this season. So, the Nittany Lions will head to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, to take on Pac-12 Champion Utah.

Penn State finished third in the Big Ten East with a 10-2 record in the 2022 season. The Nittany Lions’ only losses came to the Buckeyes and the Wolverines. 

Utah went 10-3 in 2022, including two victories over USC. The 2023 Rose Bowl Game will kick off on Jan. 2 at 4 p.m.

Purdue: Citrus Bowl

Fresh off its first Big Ten Championship Game appearance, Purdue is heading to one of the most prestigious non-New Year’s Six bowls.

The Boilermakers had a winding road to a Big Ten West Division title, heading to Indianapolis with a 8-4 overall and 6-3 Big Ten records. 

Now, the Big Ten runner-up will play LSU in Orlando, Florida. At 9-4, the Tigers are coming off an SEC Championship Game appearance.

The Citrus Bowl will kick off at Camping World Stadium on Jan. 2, 2023, at noon.

Illinois: ReliaQuest Bowl

The Fighting Illini are going bowling for the first time since 2019. Illinois accepted a bid to the ReliaQuest Bowl — formerly the Outback Bowl — in Tampa, Florida, on Jan. 2, 2023.

The Illini started the season 6-1, but they went 2-3 in their final five games to miss out on a chance to go to the Big Ten Championship Game. 

Illinois will take on Mississippi State, which went 8-4 on the 2022 season. 

Maryland: Duke’s Mayo Bowl

Either Maryland head coach Mike Locksley or NC State’s Dave Doeren will get dumped with mayo on Dec. 30. The Terrapins are heading to Charlotte, North Carolina, to take on the Wolfpack.

The Terrapins finished fourth in the Big Ten East with 7-5 overall and 4-5 conference records.

NC State will take just a 2 ½ hour drive to get to its bowl destination. The Wolfpack went 8-4 overall and 4-4 in the ACC this season.

Minnesota: Pinstripe Bowl

The Gophers should feel right at home in one of the FBS’ coldest bowls. Minnesota is heading to New York City to take on Syracuse at Yankee Stadium on Dec. 29.

Minnesota finished the season 8-4 with losses to Big Ten West rivals Iowa, Illinois, and Purdue.

Syracuse, which is just 4 ½ hours away from New York City, went 7-5 in 2022.

Wisconsin: Guaranteed Rate Bowl

The Badgers are heading to the desert.

Wisconsin will travel to Arizona on Dec. 27 to play Oklahoma State at Chase Field — the home of MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks — in downtown Phoenix. Oklahoma State went 7-5 overall and 4-5 in the Big 12. 

The Badgers, who went through a midseason coaching change, finished the season 6-6 under interim head coach Jim Leonhard.

Wisconsin announced Luke Fickell as its new head coach on Nov. 27. While he may not be the head coach until the 2023 season, Fickell said he plans to coach the Badgers’ bowl game in some capacity, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.