Brent Venables and his Oklahoma football team will be spending the Christmas holidays in Orlando, Florida, as guests of the Cheez-It Bowl.
The Sooners will play 13th-ranked Florida State (9-3) on Dec. 29. This will be the second time Oklahoma has appeared in this bowl location. OU lost to Clemson 40-6 in 2014 when it was the Russell Athletic Bowl.
Oklahoma gets the fourth best bowl assignment of the eight bowl-bound teams from the Big 12. The Cheez-It Bowl, played at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, sits behind the playoff when there is a Big 12 team in the final four, the Sugar Bowl, which gets the No. 2 Big 12 team (Kansas State) and the Alamo Bowl, where Texas will be matched against Washington.
The Sooners will enter their Cheez-It Bowl contest with a 6-6 overall record and 3-6 in the Big 12. Their final three losses, however, were by a combined nine points. It will be the 56th bowl appearance for Oklahoma fourth most nationally. Thirty-nine of those appearances have been in bowls that currently comprise the New Year’s Six bowl rotation.
Oklahoma ranks 18th among FBS teams averaging 472.2 yards per game and 37th in scoring, averaging 32.9 points a game. Florida State finished the regular season ranked 14th in total offense (475.7 yards per game) and 18th in scoring (36.2).
Oklahoma is 31-23-1 all-time in postseason bowl games.
The Cheez-It Bowl will be the eighth time Oklahoma and Florida State have played each other in football. The Sooners are 6-1 against the Seminoles, the most notable win of which was in the 2001 national championship game, won 13-2 by Oklahoma to complete an undefeated 13-0 season and the school’s seventh national championship.
This will be the 24th consecutive bowl appearances by Oklahoma, the second longest active streak behind Georgia (26).
Here is where the other Big 12 schools are headed in the postseason”
College Football Playoff — TCU, the No. 3 seed, vs. No. 2 Michigan at Fiesta Bowl, Glendale, Arizona
Sugar Bowl — Kansas State vs. Alabama, Dec. 31 in New Orleans, Louisiana
Alamo Bowl — Texas vs. Washington, Dec. 29 in San Antonio, Texas
Cheez-It Bowl — Oklahoma vs. Florida State, Dec. 29 in Orlando, Florida
Texas Bowl — Texas Tech vs. Ole Miss, Dec. 28 in Houston, Texas
Liberty Bowl — Kansas vs. Arkansas, Dec. 28 in Memphis, Tennessee
Guaranteed Rate Bowl — Oklahoma State vs. Wisconsin, Dec. 27 in Phoeniz, Arizona
Armed Forces Bowl — Baylor vs. Air Force on Dec. 22 in Fort Worth, Texas