After a shaky 3-3 start, South Carolina had to win out to get here. They did just that. The No. 14 Gamecocks had Alabama on the ropes on their home field in October. Trailing by eight with two minutes to play,

25 Victories, 14 losses and one tie for SEC teams in the Citrus Bowl and its predecessors -- the Tangerine Bowl, Florida Citrus Bowl and Capital One Bowl. Big Ten teams have a 13-19 record in the game. The SEC has a 20-11 record when playing a Big Ten opponent in the game, with Tennessee beating Iowa 35-0 in last season’s game.

QB LaNorris Sellers leads a potent, balanced passing attack that ranks 19th in net yards per attempt (10.3) with a 65.1% completion rate (28th) and 21.5% of pass attempts going for 20+ yards (19th). Defensively South Carolina vaunted pass rush led by DEs Kyle Kennard (opted out) and Dylan Stewart ranks #1 in FBS with a 14.

The Illinois football program's uniform combo will take a unique twist on New Year's Eve when it plays South Carolina in the Citrus Bowl,

During the 2024 college football regular season, ESPN’s FPI analytics were quite accurate in predicting the outcome of Illinois’ games. In fact, ESPN's metrics

SportsLine's model revealed its college football picks for Illinois Fighting Illini vs. South Carolina Gamecocks in the Citrus Bowl 2024 on Tuesday

When it takes the field Tuesday against the Gamecocks in the Citrus Bowl (2 p.m., Ch. 7), Illinois, also 9-3, will have its hands more than full. The Gamecocks finished 15th in th