GENERAL NEWS
Cheez-It Bowl bringing Big Ten vs. Big 12 matchup starting in 2020
Jun 4, 2019, 7:02 PM
TCU players celebrate a 10-7 overtime win against California in the Cheez-It Bowl NCAA college football game Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
The Cheez-It Bowl will be mixing things up in their matchup alignment, going to a Big Ten vs. Big 12 matchup beginning in the 2020-21 season.
“Every six years the cycle comes around,” executive director of the Fiesta Bowl Mike Nearly told 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Bickley & Marotta Tuesday. “We’re excited about this and having the Big Ten matchup against the Big 12 come back to the Valley.”
The six-year agreement runs through the 2025-26 season and each game will be televised on ESPN. That matchup was featured previously from 2006-13 and will end the current matchup of Pac-12 and Big 12 teams, which began in 2015 and will end with next year’s rendition.
The bowl game, formerly known as the Cactus Bowl, will be the only postseason matchup with a pre-ordained Big Ten and Big 12 matchup.
Big 12 teams have a record of 14-3 in the game and its 17 appearances are the most of any conference in the bowl game’s history.
