Lamar Jackson will be spending New Year's Eve in his home state, with the Heisman Trophy front-runner bringing his Louisville Cardinals to Orlando to take on LSU in the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl.
Jackson captured the ACC player of the year honors this week after helping lead Louisville (9-3) to a second-place finish in the Atlantic Division. It's the second postseason appearance by the Cardinals in Orlando, with the team last playing at Camping World Stadium in the 2013 Russell Athletic Bowl _ a 34-9 win over Miami.
LSU (7-4), meanwhile, will make its fourth postseason appearance in Central Florida with the Tigers previously having played here in the Tangerine Bowl in 1979 and the Capital One Bowl in 2005 and 2010. The SEC has not yet finalized all of its teams' bowl destinations.
Miami (8-4) will make the short trip up from Coral Gables, Fla., to take part in the Russell Athletic Bowl on Dec. 28 at 2 p.m. The Hurricanes are making their fifth postseason appearance in Orlando with previous matchups in the Carquest Bowl in 1996, the MicronPC Bowl in 1998, the Champs Sports Bowl in 2009 and the Russell Athletic Bowl in 2013.
Mark Richt's Hurricanes will face West Virginia (10-2). The Mountaineers, who finished second in the Big 12, are making their fourth postseason trip to Orlando. WVU's most recent trip to Orlando was during the 2010 Champs Sports Bowl.
The Cure Bowl received an early holiday treat when it landed UCF (6-6) for its Dec. 17 game. The Knights finished third in the AAC East division and are sure to bring tons fans.
Their opponent, Arkansas State, is making its seventh postseason appearance. The Red Wolves (7-5) finished as co-champions of the Sun Belt with Appalachian State.
