FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas will end its season on New Year’s Day in the Sunshine State.
The Razorbacks have been selected to play in the Outback Bowl against Penn State from the Big Ten at 11 a.m. CT on Jan. 1, it was announced Sunday. The game will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla., and televised on ESPN2.
It will be Arkansas’ first appearance in a Florida bowl since the 2006 season, when it lost to Wisconsin in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando.
After last season’s Texas Bowl was canceled because of COVID-19 issues within the TCU program, it will be Arkansas’ first bowl of any kind since losing to Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl following the 2016 season.
Although they’ve never played a bowl game in Tampa, the Razorbacks did beat Tulane in the 1980 Hall of Fame Classic in Birmingham, Ala., which was the Outback Bowl’s predecessor. It will be the fourth different Florida location Arkansas has played a bowl, following Jacksonville (Gator), Miami (Orange/Carquest) and Orlando (Citrus).
Finishing the regular season with an 8-4 record that included a 4-4 mark in SEC play, Arkansas is No. 21 in the final College Football Playoff poll announced earlier in the day Sunday. Penn State went 7-5 and finished fourth in the Big Ten East with a 4-5 conference record.
It will be the first ever meeting between the two schools. The Razorbacks will be trying to win their first bowl game against a Big Ten team, as they are 0-4 in previous bowl matchups with the conference.
