BYU Football: Three Things to Know About the Boca Raton Bowl
On Monday morning, BYU officially accepted an invitation to the Boca Raton Bowl against UCF. The game will kick off on Tuesday, December 22 at 7p.m. EST on ESPN. BYU head coach Kalani Sitake said the team is "excited for the challenge and opportunity" in a Monday morning press release:
“Our team is excited for the challenge and opportunity to face UCF in the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl,” said BYU head coach Kalani Sitake. “UCF is a well-coached team and top-tier football program that’s had a lot of success. In a season where we’ve learned that we can’t take playing this game for granted, we’re really thankful for the chance to go to Florida and play one more time with our group. We are looking forward to the bowl matchup with UCF and also really like the timing of this game, which will allow our players to spend the holidays with their families, after a great season together.”
BYU has never played in the Boca Raton bowl, here are three things to know about the Boca Raton Bowl:
Payout
The 2020 payout for the Boca Raton bowl is $900,000. Compared to BYU's last two bowl games, $900,000 is a smaller payout. The Hawaii bowl paid out $1,200,000 in 2019 and the Idaho Potato bowl paid out $950,000 in 2018. Some bowls won't pay as much as normal in 2020 due to limited fan attendance, but the Boca Raton Bowl will pay out as normal - The Boca Raton Bowl paid out $900,000 in 2019.
Location
The Boca Raton Bowl is played at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida. Due to COVID-19, fan attendance will be limited to 6,000 people, approximately 20% of available capacity.
2020 Matchup
BYU-UCF is the best matchup, on paper, in the young history of the Boca Raton Bowl. Here are the six previous matchups dating back to 2014:
- 2014 - Marshall vs Northern Illinois
- 2015 - Toledo vs Temple
- 2016 - Western Kentucky vs Memphis
- 2017 - FAU vs Akron
- 2018 - UAB vs Northern Illinois
- 2019 - FAU vs SMU