| Game Name: | Citrus Bowl |
| Subheader: | 77th Citrus Bowl |
| Title Sponsor: | Cheez-It |
| Date Game Played: | January 2 |
| Year Game Played: | 2023 |
| Football Season: | 2022 |
| Stadium: | Camping World Stadium |
| City: | Orlando, Florida |
| Visitor School: | Louisiana State University |
| Visitor Name Short: | LSU |
| Visitor Nickname: | Tigers |
| Visitor Record: | 9–4 |
| Visitor Conference: | SEC |
| Visitor Rank Ap: | 16 |
| Visitor Rank Coaches: | 15 |
| Visitor Rank Cfp: | 17 |
| Visitor Coach: | Brian Kelly |
| Visitor 1Q: | 14 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 21 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 14 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 14 |
| Home School: | Purdue University |
| Home Name Short: | Purdue |
| Home Nickname: | Boilermakers |
| Home Record: | 8–5 |
| Home Conference: | Big Ten |
| Home Coach: | Brian Brohm (interim) |
| Home 1Q: | 0 |
| Home 2Q: | 0 |
| Home 3Q: | 0 |
| Home 4Q: | 7 |
| Mvp: | Malik Nabers (WR, LSU)[1] |
| Odds: | LSU by 14.5 |
| Referee: | Kevin Mar (Big 12)[2] |
| Attendance: | 42,791 |
| Payout: | 8,224,578[3] |
| Us Network: | ABC |
| Us Announcers: | Bob Wischusen (play-by-play), Dan Orlovsky (analyst), Kris Budden (sideline) |
| Different Next: | 2024 (Jan.) |
The 2023 Citrus Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 2023, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The 77th annual Citrus Bowl, the game featured the LSU Tigers of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Purdue Boilermakers of the Big Ten Conference.[4] The game began at 1:08 p.m. EST and was aired on ABC.[5] It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. LSU won 63–7. The 56-point margin tied the 2008 GMAC Bowl and 2018 Armed Forces Bowl for the largest bowl game margin at the time; that record was surpassed seven days later when Georgia mauled TCU 65–7 in the CFP national championship game.
On November 15, 2022, Kellogg's, the parent company of the Cheez-It brand which already sponsored the Cheez-It Bowl at Camping World Stadium, announced it had also purchased sponsorship rights to the Citrus Bowl, making it officially the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.[6]
On December 4, 2022, it was announced that the game would feature LSU of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Purdue of the Big Ten.[7] This was the first-ever meeting between the two programs.[8]
See main article: 2022 LSU Tigers football team.
LSU played to a 9–3 regular-season record, 6–2 in conference play. They faced three ranked teams, defeating Ole Miss and Alabama while losing to Tennessee. The Tigers qualified for the SEC Championship Game, which they lost to top-ranked Georgia. LSU entered the bowl 17th in the College Football Playoff (CFP) ranking, with an overall 9–4 record.
See main article: 2022 Purdue Boilermakers football team.
Purdue compiled an 8–4 regular season record, 6–3 in conference play. They faced two ranked opponents, defeating both Minnesota and Illinois. The Boilermakers qualified for the Big Ten Championship Game, which they lost to second-ranked Michigan. Purdue entered the bowl unranked and with an 8–5 overall record.
LSU set new Citrus Bowl records for most points scored (63), largest margin of victory (56), and total offensive yards (594).[9]
| Statistic | LSU | Purdue | |
|---|---|---|---|
| First downs | 27 | 16 | |
| First downs rushing | 11 | 6 | |
| First downs passing | 16 | 9 | |
| First downs penalty | 0 | 1 | |
| Third down efficiency | 7–12 | 4–18 | |
| Fourth down efficiency | 2–3 | 3–7 | |
| Total plays–net yards | 70–594 | 78–263 | |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 32–225 | 36–94 | |
| Yards per rush | 7.0 | 2.6 | |
| Yards passing | 369 | 169 | |
| Pass completions–attempts | 27–38 | 19–42 | |
| Interceptions thrown | 1 | 3 | |
| Punt returns–total yards | 1–11 | 2–35 | |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 1–22 | 3–61 | |
| Punts–average yardage | 2–51.5 | 6–42.8 | |
| Fumbles–lost | 1–0 | 1–0 | |
| Penalties–yards | 7–72 | 5–35 | |
| Time of possession | 29:23 | 30:37 |
| Tigers passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11–15 | 173 | 2–1 | |||
| 12–17 | 139 | 1–0 | |||
| 2–2 | 50 | 1–0 | |||
| 2–4 | 7 | 0–0 | |||
| Tigers rushing | |||||
| Jayden Daniels | 6 | 67 | 0 | ||
| 8 | 58 | 2 | |||
| John Emery Jr. | 7 | 52 | 1 | ||
| Derrick Davis Jr. | 6 | 29 | 1 | ||
| Walker Howard | 3 | 18 | 0 | ||
| Nick Demas | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Tigers receiving | |||||
| Malik Nabers | 9 | 163 | 1 | ||
| 5 | 88 | 1 | |||
| 2 | 57 | 0 | |||
| 4 | 31 | 1 | |||
| Landon Ibieta | 2 | 15 | 0 | ||
| Jayden Daniels | 1 | 5 | 1 | ||
| Noah Cain | 2 | 5 | 0 | ||
| John Emery Jr. | 1 | 3 | 0 | ||
| Javen Nicholas | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Boilermakers passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austin Burton | 12–24 | 74 | 0–1 | ||
| Michael Alaimo | 4–11 | 37 | 1–1 | ||
| Jack Albers | 2–6 | 32 | 0–1 | ||
| Abdur-rahmaan Yaseen | 1–1 | 26 | 0–0 | ||
| Boilermakers rushing | |||||
| 13 | 48 | 0 | |||
| 4 | 26 | 0 | |||
| Michael Alaimo | 5 | 15 | 0 | ||
| Ryan Brandt | 1 | 7 | 0 | ||
| Jack Sullivan | 1 | 5 | 0 | ||
| 1 | 4 | 0 | |||
| Jacob Wahlberg | 2 | 4 | 0 | ||
| Caleb Lahey | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Jack Albers | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Dylan Downing | 1 | −1 | 0 | ||
| TJ Sheffield | 1 | −3 | 0 | ||
| Austin Burton | 5 | −14 | 0 | ||
| Boilermakers receiving | |||||
| TJ Sheffield | 7 | 56 | 1 | ||
| Devin Mockobee | 3 | 26 | 0 | ||
| Abdur-rahmaan Yaseen | 2 | 21 | 0 | ||
| Max Klare | 1 | 20 | 0 | ||
| Tyrone Tracy Jr | 2 | 13 | 0 | ||
| Ben Buechel | 1 | 12 | 0 | ||
| Paul Piferi | 1 | 11 | 0 | ||
| Mershawn Rice | 2 | 10 | 0 | ||