Mizzou announces acceptance of Independence Bowl invite
By Joe Proszek
After weeks of speculation as to its postseason future, Mizzou announced it has accepted an invitation to play in the Independence Bowl.
The game will be played in Shreveport, La., on Dec. 26. The Tigers will face the University of North Carolina Tar Heels.
North Carolina finished the season 7-5 just like the Tigers, but had a lowly 3-5 conference record.
The game will mark the seventh straight bowl appearance for the Tigers, by far the longest streak in school history. The streak started with Mizzou’s second appearance in the Independence Bowl following the 2005 season. Mizzou bested the South Carolina Gamecocks 38-31 in that game.
Just two years prior to that, Mizzou played in its first ever Independence Bowl, dropping the game 27-14 to the Arkansas Razorbacks.
The bowl usually pits the ACC vs. the Mountain West, but if one of those conferences lacks enough bowl eligible teams or the bowl committee does not wish to select a team from one of the conferences, the bowl committee can select an at-large team—in this case Mizzou—to fill the role.
Many analysts projected Mizzou to be headed to the Pinstripe Bowl in New York. However, Tiger fans were clamoring for a higher bowl after the Tigers finished fifth in the conference, which should rightfully earn them a trip to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl.
However it seems Texas and Texas A&M (both of whom finished below Mizzou in the standings and lost to Mizzou head-to-head) are likely to play in the Holiday Bowl and the Car Care of Texas Bowl respectively, both of which are normally for the two teams that finish ahead of the Pinstripe Bowl qualifier.
The Independence Bowl is celebrating its 36th annual installment after being established in 1976 to commemorate the United States’ bicentennial (hence the name Independence Bowl).
The Independence Bowl will be played at 4 pm CT and can be viewed live on ESPN 2.