The Cheez-It Bowl in Orlando features two iconic college football programs squaring off for the fifth time in the postseason as No. 13 Florida State faces Oklahoma. The Sooners hold a 3-1 record against Florida State in bowl games and a 6-1 record overall, claiming not only a lopsided edge in the series history but a win in the most important game between these two: The BCS National Championship at the conclusion of the 2000 season.
The last three wins in the series — that BCS title game plus both legs of a home-and-home series in 2010 and 2011 — came under the tenure of Bob Stoops, making Thursday a chance for first-year head coach Brent Venables to carry on the tradition of the current six-game winning streak against the Seminoles.
Venables first year with Oklahoma did not play out exactly as it was projected in the preseason. The Sooners were projected to finish second in the Big 12 by the league’s media and instead finished with 3-6 conference record and 6-6 record overall. Oklahoma did get back on the winning side of the Bedlam series against rival Oklahoma State and fell just seven points short of eventual Big 12 champion Kansas State. However, the up-and-down campaign also included a 49-0 blowout loss to Texas and concludes with a second straight season outside the New Year’s Six after a six-season run (2015-20) of either playing in the College Football Playoff or being selected for one of the other premier bowl games with CFP ties.
Florida State, on the other hand, finished the year as one of the hottest teams in the country and exceeded the preseason projections that had the Seminoles picked fifth in the ACC Atlantic Division, only ahead of Boston College and Syracuse. At No. 13 in the final CFP rankings, the Seminoles are the second-highest ranked team in the conference and riding a five-game winning streak, which is the longest active streak in the ACC and seventh-longest nationally.
How to watch Cheez-It Bowl live
Date: Thursday, Dec. 29 | Time: 5:30 p.m. ET
Location: Camping World Stadium — Orlando, Florida
TV: ESPN | Live stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
Florida State vs. Oklahoma: Need to know
A showcase, and a test case, for Seminoles hype in 2023: Heading into the off week in late October, Florida State was riding a three-game losing streak, 4-3 overall, and the buzz from beating LSU in the season opener had subsided substantially. But once…
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