The 2015 Outback Bowl was an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

that was played on 1 January 2015 at

Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1998 and is home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL) and the University of South Florida (USF) Bulls college football ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. It was the 29th edition of the

Outback Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Tampa, Florida. The event was known as the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 to 2022. It was held at Tampa Stadium from 1986 until 1999, when it ...

(previously called the

Hall of Fame Bowl The ReliaQuest Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played in Tampa, Florida. The event was known as the Hall of Fame Bowl from 1986 to 1995 and the Outback Bowl from 1996 to 2022. It was held at Tampa Stadium from 1986 until 1999, when it ...

) and featured the #17

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

from the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives in 1 ...

and the #19

Auburn Tigers The Auburn Tigers are the athletic teams representing Auburn University, a public four-year university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. The Auburn Tigers compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) a ...

from the SEC. It was one of the 2014-15 bowl games that concluded the 2014 FBS football season. It kicked off at Noon EST and was nationally televised by

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

. It was sponsored by the

Outback Steakhouse Outback Steakhouse is an American chain of Australian-themed casual dining restaurants, serving American cuisine, based in Tampa, Florida. The chain has over 1,000 locations in 23 countries throughout North America, South America, Asia, and Aus ...

restaurant franchise.

Teams

Both teams are dominant rushing teams with both being ranked in the top 12 rushing in the nation and both teams' starting running backs led their respective conferences in rushing statistics. At the end of the 2014 season, Auburn running back, Cameron Artis-Payne, had 1,608 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns while Wisconsin running back,

Melvin Gordon Melvin Gordon III (born April 13, 1993) is an American professional football running back. He played college football for the Wisconsin Badgers, earning unanimous All-American honors and winning the Doak Walker Award as the top college running ...

, had 2,336 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns. Auburn comes into this game with an 8–4 record and Wisconsin has a 10–3 record. The game has a promising aspect, being one of only two bowl games with AP top 20 teams, besides the College Football Playoff Bowls on New Years Day. ESPN ranked the Outback Bowl the second best non CFP game to watch, only behind the

Belk Bowl The Duke's Mayo Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, since 2002. Originally commissioned as the Queen City Bowl, it has undergone many name changes due to spon ...

between

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

and

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

taking place on December 30, 2014. The last time Auburn and Wisconsin met on the field was in the

2006 Capital One Bowl The 2006 Capital One Bowl was a post-season college football bowl game between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Auburn Tigers on January 2, 2006, at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Despite the odds against them, Wisconsin defeated the higher ra ...

. Barry Alvarez, in his last game serving as head coach, led

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

to a 24–10 victory over

Tommy Tuberville Thomas Hawley Tuberville (; born September 18, 1954) is an American politician and retired college football coach who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from Alabama, a seat he has held since 2021. Before ...

-led Auburn.

Auburn

After starting the season 5–0 and being ranked as high as #2 in the country, Auburn dropped 4 of their last 7 games and finished with an 8–4 record. They finished their regular season by losing the Iron Bowl by two scores, after leading at halftime by seven over the

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Crimson Tide, ranked #1 in the nation. The Tigers' best win came at then #4

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

who would make a

College Football Playoff The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual single-elimination tournament, knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, D ...

New Year's Six bowl by being selected for the

Peach Bowl The Peach Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played annually in Atlanta, Georgia, since December 30, 1968. The first three Peach Bowls were played at Bobby Dodd Stadium, Grant Field on the Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia Tech c ...

. The Tigers are led by quarterback

Nick Marshall Nicholas Deshawn Marshall Sr. (born June 30, 1992) is an American professional football cornerback. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL), following the 2015 NFL draft. He play ...

, who led the team to a National Championship Game at the end of the

2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2013 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the highest level of college football competition in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The regular season began on August 29, 2013, and ended on ...

. Auburn players honored fallen teammate

Jakell Mitchell Jakell Lenard Mitchell (January 1, 1996 – December 14, 2014) was an American college football player who was shot and killed during his freshman year at Auburn University. He was a heavily recruited three-sport athlete at Opelika High School i ...

by adorning their helmets with stickers displaying his jersey number 31.

Wisconsin

The Badgers lost their 1st game to

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

28–24. They then lost two more games including to

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

in the Big Ten Championship Game. The Badgers had key wins, however, over very good teams like

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

which propelled them to the Big Ten Championship. The Badgers were led by running back Heisman-finalist

who set the NCAA all-time record for single game rushing yards against Nebraska only to have it broken the following week. Head coach

Gary Andersen Gary Lee Andersen (born February 19, 1964) is an American football coach who was most recently head football coach at Utah State University. Andersen has also been the head football coach of Southern Utah (2003), Wisconsin (2013–2014), and O ...

left the Badgers to accept the head coaching position at Oregon State prior to this game. Wisconsin was coached in the 2015 Outback Bowl by University of Wisconsin Athletic Director

Barry Alvarez Barry Lee Alvarez (born December 30, 1946) is an American former college football coach and athletic director at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He served as the head football coach at Wisconsin for 16 seasons, from 1990 to 2005, compili ...

Game summary

Scoring summary

Source: Stats
/ref>

Statistics

References

{{Wisconsin Badgers bowl game navbox

ReliaQuest Bowl Auburn Tigers football bowl games Wisconsin Badgers football bowl games

2010s in Tampa, Florida January 2015 sports events in the United States