Big Ten & SEC Week Thirteen Preview
During the season, members of the Florida Citrus Sports Team Selection Committee are out on the road to meet with fans of our partner schools to spread the word about our brand-new home field opening for the 2014 bowl season.
This weekend, we’ll be at three notable games featuring teams from our partner conferences*:
Mississippi State (9-1, 5-1 SEC) welcomes Vanderbilt (3-7, 0-6 SEC) into Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field for a primetime SEC matchup. The Bulldogs enter the meeting following their first loss of the season, a 25-20 defeat to Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Mississippi State outscored Alabama 17-6 in the second half, but was unable to capture the comeback victory. The Commodores are still in search of their first conference victory of the season having dropped their most recent matchup to Florida 34-10. The two squads have met 21 previous times with the Bulldogs leading the series 12-7-2.
Indiana (3-7, 0-6 Big Ten) hits the road for the final time this season as they visit Columbus to take on Ohio State (9-1, 6-0 Big Ten). The Buckeyes remain undefeated in conference play having escaped Minnesota last week with a 31-24 win to keep their College Football Playoffs hopes alive. The Hoosiers are looking for their first Big Ten win on the season after falling to Rutgers 42-27 last week. The Buckeyes have dominated the all-time series leading 70-12-5 including 19 consecutive wins dating back to 1991. The Hoosiers last win in the series came in 1988 when they defeated the Buckeyes 41-7 in Bloomington.
Michigan State (8-2, 5-1 Big Ten) welcomes Rutgers (6-4, 2-4 Big Ten) to East Lansing looking to remain in the top half of the College Football Rankings. The Spartans bounced back from their defeat against Ohio State by knocking off Maryland 37-15 last weekend. The Scarlet Knights earned their second conference win of the season their last time out, knocking off Indiana 45-23. Rutgers holds a slight 3-2 edge in the all-time series including a 19-14 win in their last meeting back in 2004.
* — In years when a Big Ten team is assigned to a non-semifinal Orange Bowl, we will replace our Big Ten selection with the first post-CFP selection from the ACC, inclusive of Notre Dame. We’re already on the road at ACC partner schools via our relationship for the Russell Athletic Bowl.