Auburn, Northwestern accept Outback Bowl berths

The Outback Bowl will be a homecoming for first-year Auburn coach Gene Chizik, but everything else about the New Year's Day bowl at Raymond James Stadium will feel new. And that's a good thing.

The 11 a.m. kickoff features the first-ever meeting between Auburn of the SEC and Northwestern of the Big Ten. The Tigers (7-5) have not played in the Outback Bowl since 1996 and the Wildcats (8-4) will make their first appearance.

"Our fan base right now and our coaches and our players ... we are so jacked up about this and it's going to be a great following," said Chizik, a Clearwater native who began his coaching career at Seminole High. "I know it's a great bowl because I'm from down there and I get all that. We can't stand it, we're so excited."

Strong efforts in their final regular-season games helped both teams sway Outback officials.

Auburn led then-No. 2 Alabama until the final two minutes before losing 26-21 to the eventual SEC champs. Northwestern beat No. 24 Wisconsin 33-31, prompting fans to storm the field. The Wildcats also upset Iowa during a three-game win streak to end the season.

"We've been a little banged up throughout the entire course of the year," Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "As we got healthy, we also improved fundamentally and technically as a football team. That led to success on the field."

Northwestern is 1-7 in bowl games, 0-6 since winning the 1949 Rose Bowl. But Fitzgerald expects the Wildcats' fans to travel well from Chicago for the game.

"We fully anticipate the Purple Nation invading Florida," Fitzgerald said.

Auburn already has a sizeable fan base in Tampa Bay, including Chizik's mother, Rita, who lives in Clearwater.

"It's always really, really neat to come back to where you grew up," Chizik said. "For me, personally, it's going to be really exciting."

Outback Bowl president and CEO Jim McVay likes the matchup for its "freshness."