FSU, Clemson to kick off 2016 in Citrus Bowl
The renovated Citrus Bowl will kick off 2016 in style. (USATSI) Rumors of a meeting between Ole Miss and Florida State became reports last week, and now reports have become official announcements: the Rebels and Seminoles will open the 2016 season against one another in Orlando’s renovated Citrus Bowl as part of the first annual “Orlando Kickoff Game.”
From Florida State’s Twitter feed:
BREAKING: @FSU_Football to play @OleMissRebels in Annual Orlando Citrus Bowl Kickoff in 2016. http://t.co/rZn4NoZlVs pic.twitter.com/j8Zk3j9XRw
— Seminoles.com (@Seminoles_com) November 19, 2014
“We’re excited to bring regular season neutral-site college football games back to the Citrus Bowl and establish Orlando as a major kickoff destination for the future,” Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan said in a statement. “Florida State and Ole Miss will undoubtedly be a game worthy of national attention and we can’t wait to welcome fans from Tallahassee and Oxford to Central Florida to start the 2016 season.”
The game will be played on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5, 2016. The teams’ only prior meeting came in 1961; it was a 33-0 Ole Miss victory.
The game fulfills Ole Miss’ SEC requirement to schedule at least one Power 5 non-conference opponent on its 2016 schedule, which also features Memphis, Georgia Southern and Wofford. The Seminoles’ schedule that season will feature two SEC opponents with the Rebels added to FSU’s annual grudge match with Florida.
The venerable Citrus Bowl is set to reopen later this month after major reconstruction funded by the city of Orlando. The first football game on the new field will be Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M’s meeting in “The Florida Classic.”
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