| Game Name: | Citrus Bowl |
| Subheader: | 78th Citrus Bowl |
| Title Sponsor: | Cheez-It |
| Date Game Played: | January 1 |
| Year Game Played: | 2024 |
| Football Season: | 2023 |
| Stadium: | Camping World Stadium |
| City: | Orlando, Florida |
| Visitor School: | University of Iowa |
| Visitor Name Short: | Iowa |
| Visitor Nickname: | Hawkeyes |
| Visitor Record: | 10–3 |
| Visitor Conference: | Big Ten |
| Visitor Rank Ap: | 20 |
| Visitor Rank Coaches: | 17 |
| Visitor Rank Cfp: | 17 |
| Visitor Coach: | Kirk Ferentz |
| Visitor 1Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 0 |
| Home School: | University of Tennessee |
| Home Name Short: | Tennessee |
| Home Nickname: | Volunteers |
| Home Record: | 8–4 |
| Home Conference: | SEC |
| Home Rank Ap: | 25 |
| Home Rank Coaches: | 23 |
| Home Rank Cfp: | 21 |
| Home Coach: | Josh Heupel |
| Home 1Q: | 0 |
| Home 2Q: | 14 |
| Home 3Q: | 7 |
| Home 4Q: | 14 |
| Mvp: | Nico Iamaleava (QB, Tennessee)[1] |
| Odds: | Tennessee by 8.5[2] |
| Referee: | Jeff Heaser (ACC)[3] |
| Attendance: | 43,861 |
| Us Network: | ABC ESPN Radio |
| Us Announcers: | Dave Flemming (play-by-play), Brock Osweiler (analyst), and Kayla Burton (sideline) (ESPN) Chris Carlin (play-by-play) and Tom Luginbill (analyst) (ESPN Radio) |
| Different Next: | 2024 (Dec.) |
The 2024 Citrus Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2024, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The 78th annual Citrus Bowl featured Iowa of the Big Ten Conference and Tennessee of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The game began at approximately 1:00 p.m. EST and was aired on ABC.[4] [5] The Citrus Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The game was sponsored by Cheez-It and was officially known as the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.
Following the release of the final College Football Playoff (CFP) rankings, the Iowa Hawkeyes, having lost the 2023 Big Ten Football Championship Game, were selected to play the Tennessee Volunteers.[6] This was the third bowl game contested between the schools. Iowa won the 1982 Peach Bowl, 2822, and Tennessee won the 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl, 4528. Entering the Citrus Bowl, Tennessee held a 21 advantage in the overall series, also winning the Kickoff Classic game, 2322, to open the 1987 season.
See main article: 2023 Iowa Hawkeyes football team.
Iowa entered the Citrus Bowl with a 10–3 record (7–2 in the Big Ten). They reached the Big Ten Championship, where they were shut out by Michigan, 26–0. They lost to Penn State and Minnesota during the regular season.
This was Iowa's third Citrus Bowl; the Hawkeyes posted a 1–1 record in prior editions of the game, winning the 2005 edition and losing the 2022 edition.
See main article: 2023 Tennessee Volunteers football team.
Tennessee finished the regular season with an 8–4 record (4–4 in the SEC). They lost to Florida, Alabama, Missouri, and Georgia.
This was Tennessee's sixth Citrus Bowl, tying six other teams for the most appearances in the game. The Volunteers posted a 4–1 record in prior Citrus Bowls, winning the 1983, 1996, 1997 and 2002 games; their loss came in the 1994 edition.
The Citrus Bowl halftime show featured a sponsored performance from singer Gavin DeGraw as well as performances from the University of Iowa Hawkeye Marching Band and University of Tennessee Pride of the Southland Band.[7]
The halftime show announcement initially generated controversy. Under the original halftime show plans, the Hawkeye Marching Band were to play only during pregame and the Pride of the Southland Band were to only play during halftime. This was a change from previous editions of the Citrus Bowl, which allotted time for both marching bands to play during pregame and halftime. In addition to negative social media reactions (using the hashtag "LetTheBandsPlay") receiving coverage from Iowa and Tennessee media outlets, a Change.org petition protesting the change (as well as similar developments in the 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl and 2023 Frisco Bowl) obtained over 5,000 signatures a day after posting.[8] [9] [10] On December 10, The Citrus Bowl announced on their Twitter and Facebook pages that both marching bands would now play at pregame and halftime, issuing the following statement:[11]