Despite running out to a 6-1 record and being ranked in the Top 10, the Indiana Hoosiers missed out on a New Year's Six Bowl and will face the Mississippi Rebels out of the Southeastern Conference on Jan. 2, 2021 at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium.
It will mark the first time the Hoosiers and Rebels have played each other. In an interesting twist, it will be a homecoming of sorts for Indiana coach Tom Allen, who served as linebackers coach and special teams coordinator from 2012 to 2014.
The Bowl marks the second Florida bowl game for the Hoosiers, who fell 23-22 last year against Tennessee in the Gator Bowl. For Allen, this is his third bowl game with the Hoosiers, as he replaced Kevin Wilson prior to Indiana's trip in Foster Farms Bowl.
Indiana's last bowl win came in 1991, as then-coach Bill Mallory led the Hoosiers past Baylor in the Copper Bowl. Since then, the Hoosiers have dropped five bowl games.
For the Rebels, (4-5) it is their first-ever appearance in the Outback Bowl and first bowl game in Florida since the 1991 Gator Bowl. It's the first bowl game for Ole Miss since the Sugar Bowl win over Oklahoma State to close the 2015 season.
In order for Indiana to win the Outback Bowl, three things have to happen. We examine them here.