The Illinois Fighting Illini will hope to win their first bowl game in more than a decade when they head to Florida for a January showdown against the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
The Illini, who went 8-4 on the season, will play the Bulldogs in the Reliaquest Bowl at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium.
The game will take place on Jan. 2, with kickoff slated for 11 a.m. on ESPN.
Brett McMurphy of the Action Network was the first to report Illinois’ bid.
Illinois is bowl-eligible this season for the first time since 2019, when they lost the Redbox Bowl to California at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Illinois last won a bowl game in 2011 when they defeated UCLA in the Fight Hunger Bowl.
Illinois has never defeated an SEC opponent in a bowl game. Their last attempt came in the 2002 Sugar Bowl when they were defeated by LSU at the Superdome.
