In a year of firsts, new football head coach Joe Moorhead and the Mississippi State University Bulldogs will play Iowa for the first time in the Outback Bowl.
After an 8-4 season where the Bulldogs won the Egg Bowl and finished at No. 18 in the AP, Coaches, and College Football Playoff polls, they are headed to the beaches of Tampa, Florida, to make their first appearance in the Outback Bowl. 
“We are excited to accept a bid to our first Outback Bowl to cap off Joe Moorhead’s successful first season as our head football coach,” MSU Director of Athletics John Cohen said in a press release. “I want to congratulate our team and our coaching staff for earning our program’s ninth-straight bowl appearance. This team featured college football’s best defense and demonstrated overall improvement throughout the year.”
The bowl game will be played on New Years Day in Tampa at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ stadium. It is the third bowl game MSU has played in Florida. 
“Tampa is a great city with an endless number of entertainment opportunities for our fans,” Cohen said. “We always look forward to playing in an NFL stadium. I encourage our Bulldog family to pack Raymond James Stadium, and send our senior class out the right way.”
MSU will have the chance to play a Big Ten Opponent when they play the Iowa Hawkeyes (8-4). Moorhead is the first coach at MSU to take his team to a bowl game in his first year since Jackie Sherrill in 1991. 
“I am thrilled for our team and our tremendous group of seniors who have earned the opportunity to go out with a New Year’s Day bowl in the state of Florida,” Moorhead said. “The Outback Bowl is the perfect destination for our team. I have always had tremendous respect for Coach Ferentz and his Iowa teams.”
Tickets for the game can be purchased online under the tickets tab on HailState.com. Tickets start at $80, and MSU’s seat allotment is on the east side of the stadium. The NFL’s clear bag policy will be in place.