2025 Citrus Bowl
The 2025 Citrus Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 31, 2025, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The 80th annual Citrus Bowl began at approximately 3:00 p.m. EST and aired on ABC. The Citrus Bowl was one of the 2025–26 bowl games concluding the 2025 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by Cheez-It crackers and officially known as the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.
The No. 13 Texas Longhorns from the Southeastern Conference defeated the No. 18 Michigan Wolverines from the Big Ten Conference, 41–27.
Teams
Consistent with conference tie-ins, the game featured teams from the Big Ten Conference and Southeastern Conference. On December 7, bowl organizers announced Texas and Michigan as the 2025 participants. This was the third matchup between the teams, with Texas having won both prior meetings, the 2005 Rose Bowl and a regular-season game during the 2024 season. Michigan had previously appeared in the Citrus Bowl six times, with four victories, while this was the first appearance for Texas.Michigan Wolverines
Michigan finished with a 9–3 overall record during the regular season. They faced two ranked teams during the season, No. 18 [2025 2025 Oklahoma Sooners football team|Oklahoma Sooners football team|Oklahoma] and No. 1 [2025 2025 Ohio State Buckeyes football team|Ohio State Buckeyes football team|Ohio State], losing to both. The Wolverines entered the Citrus Bowl ranked 18th in the final College Football Playoff rankings. On December 10, Michigan announced head coach Sherrone Moore had been fired due to "credible evidence" he had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. The Wolverines subsequently announced that Biff Poggi would serve as interim head coach during the bowl game. Prior the bowl, first-year offensive coordinator Chip Lindsey also left the program, taking the same position at Missouri.Prior to the game, multiple Michigan players announced they would opt-out of the bowl game. Derrick Moore, Jaishawn Barham, and Giovanni El-Hadi declared for the 2026 NFL draft, while Jordan Marshall, Justice Haynes, Ernest Hausmann, Andrew Sprague, Evan Link, Max Bredeson, and Rod Moore did not participate due to injuries.
Texas Longhorns
Texas also finished with an overall regular-season record of 9–3. The Longhorns opened the season ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. They suffered losses to No. 3 Ohio State and unranked Florida before beating No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 9 Vanderbilt. A 35–10 loss to Georgia in mid-November dashed the Longhorns' CFP chances. Despite their rivalry week upset of unbeaten No. 3 Texas A&M, Texas finished as the highest-ranked SEC team outside of the playoff bracket. The Longhorns entered the Citrus Bowl ranked 13th in the final CFP rankings.Prior to the game, 19 Longhorn players announced they would opt-out of the bowl game due to their intention to enter the transfer portal or declare for the NFL draft. These players included CJ Baxter, Quintrevion Wisner, Michael Taaffe, Anthony Hill Jr., Malik Muhammad, and Ethan Burke.