Vanderbilt Football Finds Out Bowl Destination

The Commodores will travel south for the ReliaQuest Bowl.

Nov 29, 2025; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores quarterback Diego Pavia (2), running back Sedrick Alexander (28) and offensive lineman Jordan White (53) celebrate a touchdown against the Tennessee Volunteers during the second half at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

After 12 games and a historically successful regular season for Vanderbilt football, it is now time to turn the calendar to the postseason. Vanderbilt finished the regular season 10-2 first its first-ever 10 win season, but it was not enough to make the College Football Playoff.

As a result, Vanderbilt will play in a bowl game at the end of December. Sunday afternoon, Vanderbilt found out its bowl game destination and its opponent. Vanderbilt landed in the ReliaQuest Bowl in Tampa, Florida and will face off against Iowa on Dec. 31, according to sources close to CBS Sports.

Vanderbilt is looking to finish the season strong and prove to the College Football Playoff committee that it made a mistake leaving the Commodores on the outside looking in. Vanderbilt looked to try and get a 13th game scheduled outside the continental United States against another team on the bubble this weekend in order to plead its case to the committee one final time before the official playoff bracket is revealed Sunday, but plans fell through due to logistics.

In the final rankings from the College Football Playoff committee, Vanderbilt stayed at No. 14 in the rankings and finished as the fourth team outside of the bracket.

Vanderbilt has been a team all season that shows it cares and plays with a passion on both sides of the ball. Going into the bowl game, fans should expect nothing different.

Vanderbilt is looking for its second consecutive bowl game victory. A year ago, Vanderbilt beat Georgia Tech 35-27 in the Birmingham Bowl for its first bowl win since 2013. If it did take down the Hawkeyes, it would be the first time since 2012-2013 that the Commodores won back-to-back bowl games.

But it will not be easy. Iowa has been a team from the Big Ten that has proven to give ranked teams trouble. On Sep. 27, Iowa had a 13-10 lead over Indiana in the fourth quarter, the No. 1 team in the playoff bracket, before losing the game 20-15. On Nov. 8, Iowa had a 16-15 lead over a top 10 Oregon team in the final seconds before the Ducks won on a game-winning field goal.

Iowa finished No. 23 in the playoff rankings after finishing the regular season 8-4. The Hawkeyes are coming off back-to-back wins over Michigan State and Nebraska.

Vanderbilt will look to go into the offseason the right way. The ReliaQuest Bowl is scheduled to kickoff at 11 a.m. CT on New Year’s Eve.