By Mike Bonts, FLORIDA SPORTS WIRE
TAMPA — Vanderbilt football will be playing in a postseason bowl game in consecutive seasons for only the second time in program history after accepting an invitation to the ReliaQuest Bowl on Sunday. The Commodores will face Iowa at Raymond James Stadium on Dec. 31, with kickoff scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on ESPN.
“We are excited about the opportunity to play in the ReliaQuest Bowl. This allows our players one last chance to play together in a city and Bowl that is a Hawkeye favorite for its hospitality and game day experience. We look forward to heading south and competing hard to finish the 2025 season,” said Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz
Vandy last played in consecutive bowl games when it accomplished the feat on three straight occasions from 2011-13. The Hawkeyes will be making their 38th bowl game appearance and their seventh Reliaquest Bowl appearance, formerly known as the Outback Bowl.
The Hawkeyes are 3-3 all-time in the Reliaquest Bowl. Iowa beat Mississippi State, 27-22, in the 2019 Outback Bowl, its last appearance in Tampa. Other Hawkeye wins occurred in 2004 (37-17 over Florida) and 2009 (31-10 over South Carolina). Iowa fell to Florida in 2006 (31-24) and 2017 (30-3), and LSU in 2014 (21-14).
“I want to first thank Glenn Fasani and the ReliaQuest Bowl staff for this invitation,” E. Bronson Ingram Chair in Football Clark Lea said. “Playing in this game represents an important step for our program as we look to build upon our historic season. We are grateful to have one final opportunity to compete as a team, and to be able to do that in such a prestigious bowl, in a great city, and against a respected opponent is all very meaningful. We are excited and proud to represent the SEC in this contest, and hope to close out the season with our best performance. We will need that to be able to complete the mission against an Iowa program that has come to represent the level of sustained success we aspire to at Vanderbilt. I have the utmost respect for Kirk Ferentz, and look forward to the opportunity to compete against his team.”
Led by Lea, the two-time AFCA Region 2 Coach of the Year and finalist for multiple national coach of the year honors, the Dores posted the program’s first-ever 10-win season after going 10-2 overall this fall. That included recording a 6-2 mark in SEC play, setting a school record for conference victories as well.
The Commodores are 12th in the most recent AFCA coaches’ poll and 13th in the Associated Press rankings, appearing each of the last 12 weeks in the latter poll after defeating four top-25 opponents during the course of the season. The 2025 Reliaquest Bowl marks the first ever meeting between Iowa and Vanderbilt. The Commodores are 10-2 overall this season, including a 6-2 record in the Southeastern Conference. The Hawkeyes are 14-20 all-time against current members of the SEC.
“This has been an amazing year for Vanderbilt Athletics and our entire university, and it’s fitting that our fans have an opportunity to share the final hours of 2025 with a football team that embodies so much of who we are,” said Candice Storey Lee, vice chancellor for athletics and university affairs and athletic director. “Clark Lea’s Commodores have set records, brought our community together and done the hard work of correcting outdated narratives about what is possible at Vanderbilt. We aren’t done, and neither is this team. We’re just getting started, and I look forward to seeing Commodore Nation in Tampa to cheer on this remarkable team in the ReliaQuest Bowl and celebrate what’s to come.”
This will be the first meeting between the Dores and the Hawkeyes. Vandy last played a current member of the Big Ten when it visited Purdue the second week of the 2019 campaign.
National Commodore Club members (as of Dec. 1) may now place a ticket request. The deadline to request tickets through the Vanderbilt Ticket Office is Tuesday (Dec. 9) at 5 p.m. There is a max order limit of four (4) tickets per request.
All ticket requests will be filled by NCC priority ranking as of Dec. 1. All NCC members who place a request will be notified on Wednesday if their order is able to be fulfilled or not.
The Iowa Athletics Ticket Office will begin accepting Reliaquest Bowl ticket requests on Monday, Dec. 8 from all fans until the day before the game (Dec. 30).
Fans are encouraged to sign into their UI ticket account prior to Friday, Dec. 12, as ticket orders will start being filled (based on priority) beginning Dec. 12. Fans are encouraged to monitor their email inbox for ordering information and visit Bowl Central for updated information.
