No. 19 Oklahoma State and No. 22 Virginia Tech Set to Do Battle in The Camping World Bowl on Dec. 28

first meeting since 1972, Cowboys own to passing attack

ABOVE VIDEO: Highlights of the Cowboys final game of the regular season, a 58-17 conference win over Kansas. 

ORLANDO, FLORIDA – The No. 19 Oklahoma State Cowboys (9-3, 6-3 Big 12) and the No. 22 Virginia Tech Hokies (9-3, 5-3 ACC) will play in the 2017 Camping World Bowl. Florida Citrus Sports chairman Andy Odenbach and CEO Steve Hogan announced the matchup today on behalf of the organization’s Team Selection Committee.

The game will kick off at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 28 at Camping World Stadium and will be televised nationally by ESPN.

Oklahoma State brings the nation’s most potent passing attack to Orlando, and comes in averaging 575.7 total yards and 46.3 points per game, second and third among FBS teams, respectively. Cowboys quarterback Mason Rudolph, a Heisman trophy frontrunner, leads the nation with 4,553 passing yards on the season, and wideout James Washington, a Biletnikoff Award finalist, leads the nation with 1,423 receiving yards.

Virginia Tech, meanwhile, boasts the nation’s No 4 scoring defense, allowing just 13.5 points per game, and has held opponents to 305.3 total yards per game this season, good for 12th among FBS programs.

The Hokies defense has posted three shutouts this year, the most by a Virginia Tech team since 2006, and with a victory over Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech would have back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since 2010 and 2011.

This year’s Camping World Bowl will be the third ever meeting between Virginia Tech and Oklahoma State, and the first since 1972. The teams split the previous two games.

ABOVE VIDEO: No. 25 Virginia Tech won its 14th-straight Commonwealth Cup 10-0 in their final game of the season, as the Hokies fourth ranked scoring defense shutout state rival, the Virginia Cavaliers for the third time since 2006. VA Tech rushed for 202 yards as a team and Josh Jackson threw for 143 yards and the only touchdown of the contest.

Oklahoma State has never played in the Camping World Bowl but has one previous Orlando bowl appearance in the Citrus Bowl presented by Overton’s, a 49-21 win over BYU in the 1976 edition, known at the time as the Tangerine Bowl.

Virginia Tech defeated Rutgers 13-10 in the only overtime game in the Camping World Bowl’s history in 2012 and also appeared at Camping World Stadium December 2016, when it played Clemson in the ACC Championship Game.

Originally titled the Blockbuster Bowl, the game was born in Miami, Florida, in 1990 and thrived in its first year with a marquee matchup between Penn State and Florida State which drew more than 74,000 fans. Over the next 11 years, however, the game’s attendance dwindled, and it became apparent that the game would not survive in south Florida.

Sensing a unique opportunity to bring a second bowl game to Orlando, then Florida Citrus Sports Executive Director Chuck Rohe and the Board of Directors initiated a process of obtaining the bowl’s certification. The first game was called the Tangerine Bowl, a tribute to the name of Orlando’s original bowl game (The Citrus Bowl).

The growth of the game reached a crescendo in 2011, the last game under the Champs Sports Bowl name, when Florida State and Notre Dame played before a sold-out crowd of 68,305.

Over the past five years, the bowl has averaged just shy of 55,000 fans per game. The game’s place in the postseason lineup has also improved significantly over its time in Orlando.

In early 2017, Camping World signed an agreement with Florida Citrus Sports to be the new title sponsor of the game through 2020.

CLICK HERE for tickets to attend the 2017 Camping World Bowl. Groups of 20 or more may call the Florida Citrus Sports offices at 407-423-2476.

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