Start spreading the news, the Miami Hurricanes are going bowling in New York City as Selection Sunday gave us our holiday watchlist.

After going 7-5 on the regular season the Miami Hurricanes kept their bowl eligibility status. Miami had a rough November posting a 1-3 record for the month before beating Boston College in the season closer to save their eligibility.

For the Pinstripe Bowl, the game is contested between the ACC and the Big Ten Conference, this year’s Big Ten representative will be Rutgers University out of New Jersey. Rutgers has been on the downside in recent years before making their first bowl game since 2014 back in 2021, after missing out last year the Scarlet Knights posted a 6-6 record this year putting them back in the postseason dance.

In all-time meetings between the two programs, Miami hosts a perfect 11-0 record against Rutgers. With how things stand, Miami will make to look that 12-0. This will be the first matchup between the two programs since 2003 where Miami won 34-10. Miami’s appearance in the Pinstripe Bowl marks their 45th appearance in a bowl game. However, this will be Miami’s third appearance in the big apple and come in with an 0-2 record, looking to break the curse.

When announced by Hurricanes Athletic Director Dan Radakovich, he stated that “Visiting New York to play in a bowl game at such an historic venue is a great reward and a memorable opportunity for both our student-athletes and our fans.”

From a coaching standpoint, it is definitely an interesting matchup as Rutgers’ Head Coach Greg Schiano had mentored Miami Head Coach Mario Cristobal. Cristobal had been apart of Schiano’s coaching staff at Rutgers in 2001 as the offensive tackle and tight end coach. Before that he had served as a graduate assistant for Schiano when the pair were at the University of Miami when Schiano was the Hurricanes Defensive Coordinator for both the 1999 and 2000 seasons.

Coach Cristobal aims to bring Miami its first bowl victory since 2016 when they defeated West Virginia in the Russell Athletic Bowl. This year’s Pinstripe Bowl sponsored by Bad Boy Mowers will be taking place on December 28th at 2:15pm and will be televised on ESPN.