Citrus Bowl

The Citrus Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group that also organizes the Pop-Tarts Bowl and Florida Classic. For sponsorship reasons, the game is officially known as the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl, named after the Cheez-It brand of cheese crackers produced by Kellanova, a subsidiary of Mars Inc.
Since the mid-1980s, the Citrus Bowl has drawn many high-ranked teams and is typically played at 1 p.m. EST on New Year's Day and broadcast nationally on ABC. When January 1 is a Sunday, the game has been played on January 2 or December 31, to avoid conflicting with the National Football League schedule., it had the largest payout of all bowls other than those that were part of the College Football Playoff, at $8.55 million per team. In nearly every year since 1985, the game has featured two teams ranked in the AP poll.

History

Naming and sponsorship

The game was first played as the Tangerine Bowl in 1947 before being renamed as the Florida Citrus Bowl in 1983. Capital One was the game's title sponsor between 2001 and 2014; the game was named the Capital One Bowl from 2003 to 2014. Since the 2015 edition, the game has been staged as the Citrus Bowl.
Sponsorship of the bowl has include CompUSA, Ourhouse.com, Buffalo Wild Wings, Overton's, and Vrbo. In November 2022, Kellogg's moved bowl sponsorship through its Cheez-It brand of cheese crackers from another bowl game played at Camping World Stadium to the Citrus Bowl. Since the January 2023 edition, the game has been officially named the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl. Ownership of the Cheez-It brand subsequently passed to Kellanova, formed in October 2023, which was acquired in late 2025 by Mars Inc.

Tangerine Bowl (1947–1982)

The game, which began play in 1947, is one of the oldest bowls outside of the New Year's Six, along with the Gator Bowl and Sun Bowl. By 1952, the game was dubbed the "Little Bowl with the Big Heart", because all the proceeds from the game went to charity.
From 1964 through 1967, it was one of the four Division II Football Championship#Regional bowls|regional finals in the College Division], along with the Pecan, Grantland Rice, and Camellia bowls. In this capacity, the Tangerine Bowl sought to match the two best non-major teams in a 17-state Eastern Region stretching from New England to Florida.
In 1968, the Boardwalk Bowl in Atlantic City took over as the College Division Eastern regional final, and the Tangerine Bowl became a major college bowl game, featuring teams from the University Division.
The Tangerine Bowl name was used through the December 1982 game. The same name was re-used later, but for a bowl game with a different lineage.

Florida Citrus Bowl (1983–2002)

In March 1983, the name of the game was changed from Tangerine Bowl to Florida Citrus Bowl, via a $1.25 million agreement with the Florida Citrus Commission; the bowl's organizing committee also changed its name from Tangerine Sports Association to Florida Citrus Sports Association. A month earlier, organizers had rejected a proposal to rename the game to Grapefruit Bowl.
In 1986, it was one of the bowl games considered for the site of the "winner take all" national championship game between 1986 [Penn State Nittany Lions football team|Penn State] and Miami Hurricanes football team|Miami], before the Fiesta Bowl was eventually chosen.
The January 1991 game had national championship implications for the 1990 season; 1990 [Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team|Georgia Tech] won the Florida Citrus Bowl, finished 11–0–1, and was voted the 1990 UPI national champion. That occurrence marks a rare example of a non-New Year's Six bowl game featuring a team later named national champion.
The January 1, 1998, game, which featured nearby Florida Gators football team|Florida] beating 1997 [Penn State Nittany Lions football team|Penn State], holds the game's attendance record at 72,940. The Gators returned to the bowl two years later, losing on a field goal on the final play to Michigan State.

Capital One Bowl (2003–2014)

Starting with the January 2003 edition, the bowl was renamed as the Capital One Bowl, with title sponsorship by Capital One.
In 2004, the bowl bid to become the fifth BCS game, but was not chosen, primarily due to the stadium's aging condition. In July 2007, the Orange County Commissioners voted in favor of spending $1.1 billion to build the Amway Center for the Orlando Magic, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, and to upgrade the Citrus Bowl stadium.
Following the January 2014 game, Capital One ceased its sponsorship of the bowl, and moved its sponsorship to the Orange Bowl.

Citrus Bowl (2015–present)

was announced as the new sponsor of the bowl game, which was renamed as the Citrus Bowl for the January 2015 edition. Buffalo Wild Wings had previously been the title sponsor of what had been the Insight Bowl. In the offseason of 2017, Buffalo Wild Wings ceased sponsoring the bowl. Following sponsorship by Overton's and Vrbo, Kellogg's became the title sponsor in November 2022, via its Cheez-It brand.
The 2016 season game was played on December 31, the first time in 30 years that the game was not played on January 1 or 2.

Conference tie-ins

From 1968 through 1975, the bowl featured the Mid-American Conference champion against an opponent from the Southern Conference, the Southeastern Conference , or an at-large opponent. MAC teams were 6–2 during those games.
As the major football conferences relaxed restrictions on post-season play in the mid-1970s, the bowl went to a matchup between two at-large teams from major conferences, with one school typically from the South.
From the 1987 season through the 1991 season, the bowl featured the Atlantic Coast Conference champion against an at-large opponent. ACC teams were 3–2 during those games, including Georgia Tech's win vs. Nebraska following the 1990 season to clinch a share of the national championship.
From the 1992 season through the 2015 season, the bowl featured an SEC vs. Big Ten matchup – the SEC won 14 of those games, while the Big Ten won 10.
During the 1990s, the second-place finisher in the SEC typically went to this bowl. Florida coach Steve Spurrier, speaking to the fact that Tennessee occupied that spot three of four years as Florida finished first, famously quipped "You can't spell 'Citrus' without U-T!"
Currently, the bowl has tie-ins with the SEC and the Big Ten, holding the first selection after the CFP selection process for both conferences. Since the formation of the CFP, the Citrus Bowl has a chance to occasionally host an ACC team, replacing the Big Ten representative. This will happen the years in which the Orange Bowl is not a CFP semi-final game and selects a Big Ten team to match against their ACC team. This happened following the 2016 season, as the Orange Bowl was not a CFP semi-final and invited Michigan of the Big Ten to face Florida State of the ACC; the Citrus Bowl then invited Louisville of the ACC to face LSU of the SEC. The next year, Wisconsin Badgers football team|Wisconsin] was invited to the Orange Bowl, so the SEC's LSU was pitted against 2017 [Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team|Notre Dame], who received an invite in lieu of an ACC team.

Racial integration

The undefeated 1955 Hillsdale College football team refused an invitation to the January 1956 edition of the bowl when bowl officials insisted that Hillsdale's four African-American players would not be allowed to play in the game.
The University at Buffalo's first bowl bid was to the December 1958 edition. The Tangerine Bowl Commission hoped that the Orlando High School Athletic Association, which operated the stadium, would waive its rule that prohibited integrated sporting events. When it refused, the team unanimously voted to skip the bowl because its two black players would not have been allowed on the field. Buffalo did not become bowl-eligible for another 50 years. During the 2008 season, when the Bulls were on the verge of bowl eligibility, the 1958 team was profiled on ESPN's Outside the Lines. The 2008 team went on to win the Mid-American Conference title, and played in the International Bowl.
Eight years later, OHSAA's rule had been changed, and Morgan State of Baltimore, under head coach Earl Banks, became the first historically black college to play in a Tangerine Bowl.

Gainesville

In early 1973, construction improvements were planned for the then 17,000-seat Tangerine Bowl stadium to expand to over 51,000 seats. In early summer 1973, however, construction was stalled due to legal concerns, and the improvements were delayed. Late in the NCAA Division I football season|1973 season], Tangerine Bowl President Will Gieger and other officials planned to invite the Miami Redskins football team|Miami Redskins] and the 1973 [East Carolina Pirates football team|East Carolina Pirates] to Orlando for the game. On November 19, 1973, East Carolina withdrew from bowl consideration when no invitation arrived before Thanksgiving break, and the bowl was left with one at-large bid. In an unexpected and unprecedented move, game officials decided to invite the Florida Gators, and move the game to Florida Field in Gainesville, the Gators' home stadium. The larger stadium was needed to accommodate the large crowd expected. The move required special permission from the NCAA, and special accommodations were made. Both teams were headquartered in Orlando for the week, and spent most of their time there, including practices, and were bused up to Gainesville.
The participants were greeted with an unexpected event, a near-record low temperature of. Despite the home-field advantage, in the game nicknamed the "Transplant Bowl", Miami, who found the cold much more to its liking, defeated the Gators, 16–7. One of the players on the victorious Redskins squad was future Gators coach Ron Zook.
The one-time moving of the game, and the fears of a permanent relocation, rejuvenated the stalled stadium renovations in Orlando. The game returned to Orlando for 1974, and within a couple of years, the expansion project was complete.

Mascot Challenge

The "Capital One Mascot Challenge" was a contest where fans voted for their favorite college mascot. The contest began in 2002 with the winner being named during the halftime; the winning school was awarded $20,000 towards their mascot program. With the ending of Capital One's sponsorship of the Citrus Bowl, the challenge was moved in 2014 to the Orange Bowl with Capital One's sponsorship of that game. The 2014 season was also the last time that the contest was held.

Game results

Rankings are based on the AP poll prior to the game being played. Italics denote a tie game.
Source:

MVPs

Multiple players were recognized in some games – detail, where known, is denoted with B, L, O, D, or M per contemporary newspaper reports.

Game	MVP	Team	Pos.	Type
Jan. 1949	Dale McDaniel	Murray State	HB	-
Jan. 1949	Ted Scown	Sul Ross State	HB	-
Jan. 1950	Don Henigin	St. Vincent	FB	-
Jan. 1950	Chick Davis	Emory & Henry	QB	-
Jan. 1951	Pete Anania	Morris Harvey	QB	-
Jan. 1951	Charles Hubbard	Morris Harvey	E	-
Jan. 1952	Bill Johnson	Stetson	QB	-
Jan. 1952	Dave Laude	Stetson	E	-
Jan. 1953	Marvin Brown	East Texas State	HB	-
Jan. 1954	Bobby Spann	Arkansas State	QB	-
Jan. 1955	Bill Englehardt	Omaha	HB	-
Jan. 1956	Barry Drexler	Juniata	E	-
Jan. 1957	Ron Mills	West Texas State	HB	-
Jan. 1958	Norman Roberts	East Texas State	E	-
Dec. 1958	Sam McCord	East Texas State	QB	-
Jan. 1960	Bob Waters	Presbyterian	QB	-
Dec. 1960	Jerry Nettles	Citadel	QB	-
Dec. 1961	Ralph Stone	Lamar	HB	-
Dec. 1962	Billy Roland	Houston	QB	-
Dec. 1963	Sharon Miller	Western Kentucky	QB	-
Dec. 1964	Bill Cline	East Carolina	TB	-
Dec. 1965	Dave Alexander	East Carolina	FB	-
Dec. 1966	Willie Lanier	Morgan State	LB	-
Dec. 1967	Errol Hook	Tennessee–Martin	QB	O
Dec. 1967	Gordon Lambert	Tennessee–Martin	DE	D
Dec. 1968	Buster O'Brien	Richmond	QB	B
Dec. 1968	Walker Gillette	Richmond	SE	L
Dec. 1969	Chuck Ealey	Toledo	QB	B
Dec. 1969	Dan Crockett	Toledo	WB	L
Dec. 1970	Chuck Ealey	Toledo	QB	O
Dec. 1970	Vince Hubler	William & Mary	LB	D
Dec. 1971	Chuck Ealey	Toledo	QB	B
Dec. 1971	Mel Long	Toledo	DT	L
Dec. 1972	Freddie Solomon	Tampa	QB	B
Dec. 1972	Jack Lambert	Kent State	LB	L
Dec. 1973	Chuck Varner	Miami	FB	B
Dec. 1973	Brad Cousino	Miami	MG	L
Dec. 1974	Sherman Smith	Miami	QB	B
Dec. 1974	Brad Cousino	Miami	MG	L
Dec. 1974	John Roudabush	Miami	LB	L
Dec. 1975	Rob Carpenter	Miami	TB	O
Dec. 1975	Jeff Kelly	Miami	MG	D
Dec. 1976	Terry Miller	Oklahoma State	HB	M, O
Dec. 1976	Phillip Dokes	Oklahoma State	DT	D
Dec. 1977	Jimmy Jordan	Florida State	QB	M, O
Dec. 1977	Willie Jones	Florida State	LB	D
Dec. 1978	Ted Brown	North Carolina State	RB	M
Dec. 1978	Nathan Ritter	North Carolina State	K	O
Dec. 1978	John Stanton	North Carolina State	MG	D
Dec. 1979	David Woodley	LSU	QB	M
Dec. 1979	Jerry Murphree	LSU	RB	O
Dec. 1979	Benjy Thibodeaux	LSU	DT	D

Game	MVP	Team	Pos.	Type
Dec. 1980	Cris Collinsworth	Florida	WR	M
Dec. 1980	Charlie Wysocki	Florida	RB	O
Dec. 1980	David Galloway	Florida	DT	D
Dec. 1981	Jeff Gaylord	Missouri	LB	-
Dec. 1982	Randy Campbell	Auburn	QB	-
Dec. 1983	Johnnie Jones	Tennessee	RB	-
Dec. 1984	James Jackson	Georgia	QB	-
Dec. 1985	Larry Kolic	Ohio State	LB	-
Jan. 1987	Aundray Bruce	Auburn	LB	-
Jan. 1988	Rodney Williams	Clemson	QB	-
Jan. 1989	Terry Allen	Clemson	RB	-
Jan. 1990	Jeff George	Illinois	QB	-
Jan. 1991	Shawn Jones	Georgia Tech	QB	-
Jan. 1992	Mike Pawlawski	California	QB	-
Jan. 1993	Garrison Hearst	Georgia	RB	-
Jan. 1994	Bobby Engram	Penn State	WR	-
Jan. 1995	Sherman Williams	Alabama	RB	-
Jan. 1996	Jay Graham	Tennessee	RB	-
Jan. 1997	Peyton Manning	Tennessee	QB	-
Jan. 1998	Fred Taylor	Florida	RB	-
Jan. 1999	Anthony Thomas	Michigan	RB	-
Jan. 2000	Plaxico Burress	Michigan State	WR	-
Jan. 2001	Anthony Thomas	Michigan	RB	-
Jan. 2002	Casey Clausen	Tennessee	QB	-
Jan. 2003	Ronnie Brown	Auburn	RB	-
Jan. 2004	David Greene	Georgia	QB	-
Jan. 2005	Drew Tate	Iowa	QB	-
Jan. 2006	Brian Calhoun	Wisconsin	RB	-
Jan. 2007	John Stocco	Wisconsin	QB	-
Jan. 2008	Chad Henne	Michigan	QB	-
Jan. 2009	Matthew Stafford	Georgia	QB	-
Jan. 2010	Daryll Clark	Penn State	QB	-
Jan. 2011	Courtney Upshaw	Alabama	LB	-
Jan. 2012	Alshon Jeffery	South Carolina	WR	-
Jan. 2013	Aaron Murray	Georgia	QB	-
Jan. 2014	Connor Shaw	South Carolina	QB	-
Jan. 2015	Markus Golden	Missouri	DE	-
Jan. 2016	Jake Rudock	Michigan	QB	-
Dec. 2016	Derrius Guice	LSU	RB	-
Jan. 2018	Miles Boykin	Notre Dame	WR	-
Jan. 2019	Benny Snell	Kentucky	RB	-
Jan. 2020	Jerry Jeudy	Alabama	WR	-
Jan. 2021	Peyton Ramsey	Northwestern	QB	-
Jan. 2022	Wan'Dale Robinson	Kentucky	WR	-
Jan. 2023	Malik Nabers	LSU	WR	-
Jan. 2024	Nico Iamaleava	Tennessee	QB	-
Dec. 2024	Josh McCray	Illinois	RB	-
Dec. 2025	Arch Manning	Texas	QB	-

Source:
Three players have been recognized in multiple games; Chuck Ealey of Toledo, Brad Cousino of Miami , and Anthony Thomas of Michigan.

Most appearances

Note: this section reflects games played since 1968, when the bowl started hosting major college teams.
Tennessee has the most wins by a single team with 5. Florida and Penn State have the most losses by a single team with 4.
Updated through the December 2025 edition.
;Teams with multiple appearances

Rank	Team	Appearances	Record	Win pct.
1	Michigan	7	4–3
T2	Tennessee	6	5–1
T2	Georgia	6	4–1–1
T2	Florida	6	2–4
T2	Penn State	6	2–4
T2	Auburn	6	3–3
T2	LSU	6	3–3
T8	South Carolina	4	2–2
T8	Ohio State	4	1–3
T10	Alabama	3	3–0
T10	Miami	3	3–0
T10	Toledo	3	3–0
T10	Clemson	3	2–1
T10	Wisconsin	3	2–1
T10	Iowa	3	1–2
T10	Michigan State	3	1–2
T10	Nebraska	3	0–3

Rank	Team	Appearances	Record	Win pct.
T18	Missouri	2	2–0
T18	Kentucky	2	2–0
T18	Illinois	2	2–0
T18	Northwestern	2	1–1
T18	Richmond	2	1–1
T18	Florida State	2	0–1–1
T18	Purdue	2	0–2
T18	Arkansas	2	0–2
T18	BYU	2	0–2
T18	Maryland	2	0–2

;Teams with a single appearance
Won : California, Georgia Tech, NC State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Tampa, Texas
Lost : Boston College, Davidson, Kent State, Louisville, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Southern Miss, Texas Tech, USC, Virginia, Wake Forest, William & Mary

Appearances by conference

Note: this table reflects games played since 1968, when the bowl started hosting major college teams.
Updated through the December 2025 edition.

Games marked with an asterisk were played in January of the following calendar year.
Records are based on a team's conference affiliation at the time the game was played; for example, Penn State has appeared both as a Big Ten team and as an Independent team.
Conferences that are defunct or not currently active in FBS are marked in italics.
Independent appearances: Boston College, Florida State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Southern Miss, and Tampa.
Game records

Team	Performance vs. Opponent	Year
Most points scored	63, LSU vs. Purdue	2023
Most points scored	91, Richmond vs. Ohio	1968
Most points scored	42, Ohio vs. Richmond	1968
Fewest points scored	7, most recently: Omaha vs. Eastern Kentucky	1955
Fewest points scored	7, Catawba vs. Marshall	1948
Fewest points allowed	0, most recently: Tennessee vs. Iowa	2024
Largest margin of victory	56, LSU vs. Purdue	2023
Total yards	594, LSU vs. Purdue	2023
Rushing yards	375, Oklahoma State vs. BYU	1976
Passing yards	455, Florida State vs. Texas Tech	1977
First downs	32, Richmond vs. Ohio	1968
Fewest yards allowed
Fewest rushing yards allowed
Fewest passing yards allowed
Individual	Record, Player, Team	Year
All-purpose yards
Touchdowns
Rushing yards	234, Fred Taylor	1998
Rushing touchdowns	4, Terry Miller	1976
Passing yards	447, Buster O'Brien	1968
Passing touchdowns	5, Aaron Murray	2013
Receiving yards	242, Walker Gillette	1968
Receiving touchdowns	3, shared by: Plaxico Burress Travis Taylor Todd Snyder	2000 2000 1968
Tackles	17, shared by: Te'von Coney Eric Wilson	2018 1983
Sacks
Interceptions	2, most recently: Ty'Anthony Smith	2025
Long Plays	Record, Player, Team	Year
Touchdown run	78 yds., Russell Hansbrough	2015
Touchdown pass	87 yds., Aaron Murray to Chris Conley	2013
Kickoff return	102 yds., Dave Lowert	1976
Punt return	78 yds., Renard Harmon	1972
Interception return	99 yds., Quad Wilson	2023
Fumble return
Punt	71 yds., shared by: Blake Gillikin Jay Jones	2019 1971
Field goal	57 yds., Quinn Nordin	2020
Miscellaneous	Record, Team vs. Team	Year
Bowl attendance	73,328, Georgia Tech vs. Nebraska	1991

Source:

Media coverage

The bowl has been broadcast by Mizlou, NBC, and ABC since then, with the exception of ESPN for the 2011 and 2012 editions. Broadcast information for earlier editions of the bowl is lacking.

Additional sources

Orlando Sentinel-Star ; Various articles- Accessed via microfilm 01-03-2007.