FSU to Play Southern Miss in Independence Bowl

It was announced Sunday afternoon that the 2017 Independence Bowl will feature the Florida State Seminoles vs. Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles. The game will be played in Shreveport, Louisiana on December 27th.

The Seminoles clinched bowl-eligibility Saturday with a 42-10 win over the Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks. They finished 6-6 overall and 3-5 in the ACC. This year’s bowl will be their 36th straight, which would be an NCAA record. The NCAA does not recognize the streak due to vacated wins for an academic cheating scandal that came to light during the 2007 season.

Jimbo Fisher’s departure means that defensive tackles coach Odell Haggins will be the head coach for the bowl game. He was in this position for the final regular season game against ULM.

Southern Miss by contrast has had a decent season. The Golden Eagles finished at 8-4 overall and 6-2 in Conference USA. Their defense is surprisingly good at 25th overall in S&P ratings and their offense is middle-of-the-pack. Two of their losses came to Power 5 opponents (Tennessee and Kentucky).

FSU and Southern Miss have played each other 22 times. The Seminoles lead the all time series 13-8-1. FSU won the last match-up in 1996 by a score of 54-14 in Tallahassee.