2015 Russell Athletic Bowl, Baylor vs. North Carolina: Date, time, location and more
Two of the country’s most explosive offenses square off after ending the season with losses.
The Russell Athletic Bowl has had many names in its 25 years of existence, including the Tangerine Bowl for a short period, but settled into its current sponsorship in 2012 and will host the Big 12 and ACC again.
Originally named the Blockbuster Bowl, the game became the Carquest Bowl, MicronPC Bowl and Tangerine Bowl before becoming the Russell Athletic Bowl. The new title sponsorship hasn’t had the luck of good games recently, though. The margin of victory for Louisville and NC State in the last two years was 61 points, combined.
The game was first played at Sun Life Stadium in Miami for a decade, before moving to Orlando in 2001. The Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium is also the host of the newly created AutoNation Cure Bowl and the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl.
Here is everything you need to know to get ready for this year’s Russell Athletic Bowl:
Date and time: Tuesday, Dec. 29, 5:30 p.m. ET
TV channel: ESPN
Location: Orlando, Fla.
Stadium: Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium, 65,000
Last year’s score: Clemson 40, Oklahoma 6
Last year’s attendance: 40,071
Last year’s TV rating: 3.0
Last year’s payout for each school: $2.275 million
Team with the most all-time appearances: NC State, 5
Baylor Bears (9-3, 6-3 in Big 12)
This wasn't quite the season that Baylor was expecting. Just a few weeks ago, the Bears were still on track to contend for the Big 12 title and a Playoff spot, but they suffered a run of bad injury luck at quarterback and lost three of their final four games to settle to a disappointing 9-3. Things got so bad for Baylor injury-wise, they had to play their emergency quarterback, wide receiver Lynx Hawthorne, in their season-ending loss to Texas. It went about as well as you could expect.
If second-string quarterback Jarrett Stidham can play in the Bears' bowl game, that will be a massive boost. The true freshman looked like the real deal when he took over the starting job following Seth Russell's neck injury, completing over 68% of his passes and throwing 12 touchdowns compared to only two interceptions. Baylor still cooks like normal with Stidham throwing the ball, but if they have to go with third-string quarterback Chris Johnson, the ceiling for the offense lowers considerably.
Defensively, the Bears still have some room for improvement. They do have a bona fide star at defensive tackle in Andrew Billings, but not quite enough players around him to consistently stop other teams. They finished 76th in the nation in scoring defense, allowing nearly 28 points per game.
Last bowl game: 2014 season's Cotton Bowl (42-41 loss to Michigan State)
All-time bowl record: 10-11
Head coach's bowl record: Art Briles is 2-3 in bowl games.
North Carolina Tar Heels (11-2, 8-0 in ACC)
After being robbed of a chance at winning the ACC Championship thanks to a phantom offside call on what would have been a recovered onside kick, the Tar Heels finish the season with two losses. This was their first loss since the ever-confusing season-opening loss to South Carolina that would haunt them for the rest of the regular season. North Carolina were the beneficiaries of a weak ACC schedule, but they won with style every week, with the offense seemingly getting stronger and stronger as time passed.
That high-powered attack was led by quarterback Marquise Williams who threw for 2,605 yards and ran for 786 more. He also accounted for 28 total touchdowns. Williams has become one of the more electrifying players in the ACC, always representing a chance to score when the ball is in his hands. The offense has shown that it can score on anyone, putting up 37 points on Clemson, 30 on Virginia Tech and 26 on Pittsburgh.
Baylor needs to prepare to pull out all the stops to keep pace with Williams and the rest of the offensive attack. The UNC defense grades out decently by the advanced metrics, but Clemson was also the first truly potent offense they’ve faced. Whether or not their defense can hold down a top-15 offense enough to allow their own offense to wreck havoc will go a long way to determining their bowl fate.
Last bowl game: 2014 Quick Lane Bowl (40-21 loss to Rutgers)
All-time bowl record: 14-17
Head coach’s bowl record: Larry Fedora is 3-3 in bowl games (2-2 with Southern Miss, and 1-1 with North Carolina).
See More:
