Michigan football will draw Texas in Citrus Bowl showdown

The Michigan Wolverines found out their postseason destination on Sunday, heading to the Citrus Bowl in Orlando to take on the Texas Longhorns on Dec. 31 at 3 p.m. The matchup was first reported by On3’s Brett McMurphy.

Texas is a somewhat familiar opponent to the Wolverines of late, having played in Ann Arbor in Week 2 season, a 31-12 win for the Longhorns. The two are currently scheduled to meet again in Austin during the 2027 season.

Michigan has made 6 appearances in the Citrus Bowl, amassing a 4-2 record since 1999 with its most recent appearance coming in a 35-16 loss to Alabama on Jan. 1, 2020. Prior to that, it beat Florida twice in in 2007 and 2015, respectively, the former being Lloyd Carr’s last game helming the Michigan program. U-M beat Arkansas and Auburn in 1998 and 2000, respectively, and lost to Tennessee in 2001.

This year, Texas went 9-3 with losses to Ohio State, Georgia and Florida. Michigan had an identical regular season record with its losses coming to Oklahoma, USC and OSU. Each team was essentially knocked out of the College Football Playoff race by the Buckeyes, the Wolverines dealing with that most recently after a 27-9 loss last weekend.

Head coach Sherrone Moore said after the OSU game that the focus has turned to bowl prep and finishing on a high note.

“It’ll be about preparing for the game, just like we did last year,” Moore said last weekend. “Preparing for the bowl game as much as we can, and getting as good as we can at football. It’s a big-time, whatever it is, it’s a chance to have ten wins, right? And ten wins in college football is huge.

“So we’re going to attack it, whoever we have to play, whatever scene, wherever we go, we’re going to enjoy it, but we’re gonna attack it, and we’re going to get better.”

Michigan feels like it improved as a program this year and is ready to see how the team responds to a rough finish.”

“Ending the season with nine wins is obviously better than we were last year, but we already know our goals and what we want to do, and how we want to approach everything,” Moore said. “So nine wins is great, a lot of places, but we want to be better. But really, to them, it was to stay together, cuz it’s so easy you can get pulled apart.

“We’re not going to point fingers, we’re going to figure out what we need to fix, what we need to attack, and we’re going to do it together.”