# 2023 Citrus Bowl

The 2023 Citrus Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 2023, at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The 77th annual Citrus Bowl, the game featured the LSU Tigers of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Purdue Boilermakers of the Big Ten Conference. The game began at 1:08 p.m. EST and was aired on ABC. It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. LSU won 63–7. The 56-point margin tied the 2008 GMAC Bowl and 2018 Armed Forces Bowl for the largest bowl game margin at the time; that record was surpassed seven days later when Georgia mauled TCU 65–7 in the CFP national championship game.
On November 15, 2022, Kellogg's, the parent company of the Cheez-It brand which already sponsored the Cheez-It Bowl at Camping World Stadium, announced it had also purchased sponsorship rights to the Citrus Bowl, making it officially the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl.

## Teams

On December 4, 2022, it was announced that the game would feature LSU of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Purdue of the Big Ten. This was the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

### LSU

LSU played to a 9–3 regular-season record, 6–2 in conference play. They faced three ranked teams, defeating Ole Miss and Alabama while losing to Tennessee. The Tigers qualified for the SEC Championship Game, which they lost to top-ranked Georgia. LSU entered the bowl 17th in the College Football Playoff (CFP) ranking, with an overall 9–4 record.

### Purdue

Purdue compiled an 8–4 regular season record, 6–3 in conference play. They faced two ranked opponents, defeating both Minnesota and Illinois. The Boilermakers qualified for the Big Ten Championship Game, which they lost to second-ranked Michigan. Purdue entered the bowl unranked and with an 8–5 overall record.

## Game summary

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 17 LSU | 14 | 21 | 14 | 14 | 63 |
| Purdue | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
at Camping World Stadium • Orlando, Florida
* Date: January 2, 2023
* Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
* Game weather: Sunny • Temperature: 79 °F (26 °C) • Wind: 4 mph (6.4 km/h) east
* Game attendance: 42,791
* Referee: Kevin Mar
* TV announcers (ABC): Bob Wischusen, Dan Orlovsky, Kris Budden
* Box score
Scoring summary :
| Quarter | Time | Drive | Drive | Drive | Team | Scoring information | Score | Score |
| Quarter | Time | Plays | Yards | TOP | Team | Scoring information | LSU | Purdue |
| 1 | 7:01 | 10 | 63 | 4:46 | LSU | John Emery Jr. 1-yard touchdown run, Damian Ramos kick good | 7 | 0 |
| 1 | 1:06 | 8 | 67 | 3:14 | LSU | Noah Cain 9-yard touchdown run, Damian Ramos kick good | 14 | 0 |
| 2 | 13:03 | 5 | 62 | 2:05 | LSU | Mason Taylor 32-yard touchdown reception from Jayden Daniels, Damian Ramos kick good | 21 | 0 |
| 2 | 8:23 | 5 | 70 | 1:28 | LSU | Noah Cain 9-yard touchdown run, Damian Ramos kick good | 28 | 0 |
| 2 | 1:07 | 5 | 87 | 2:04 | LSU | Brian Thomas Jr. 10-yard touchdown reception from Garrett Nussmeier, Damian Ramos kick good | 35 | 0 |
| 3 | 9:21 | 9 | 45 | 3:04 | LSU | Jayden Daniels 5-yard touchdown reception from Malik Nabers, Damian Ramos kick good | 42 | 0 |
| 3 | 3:15 | 1 | 75 | 0:10 | LSU | Malik Nabers 75-yard touchdown reception from Garrett Nussmeier, Damian Ramos kick good | 49 | 0 |
| 4 | 13:53 | 9 | 75 | 4:22 | Purdue | TJ Sheffield 16-yard touchdown reception from Michael Alaimo, Mitchell Fineran kick good | 49 | 7 |
| 4 | 8:47 | 7 | 55 | 2:58 | LSU | Derrick Davis Jr. 12-yard touchdown run, Ezekeal Mata kick good | 56 | 7 |
| 4 | 0:40 | | | | LSU | Interception returned 99 yards for touchdown by Quad Wilson, Trey Finison kick good | 63 | 7 |
| "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | 63 | 7 |
LSU set new Citrus Bowl records for most points scored (63), largest margin of victory (56), and total offensive yards (594).

## Statistics

Team statistical comparison :
| Statistic | LSU | Purdue |
| First downs | 27 | 16 |
| First downs rushing | 11 | 6 |
| First downs passing | 16 | 9 |
| First downs penalty | 0 | 1 |
| Third down efficiency | 7–12 | 4–18 |
| Fourth down efficiency | 2–3 | 3–7 |
| Total plays–net yards | 70–594 | 78–263 |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 32–225 | 36–94 |
| Yards per rush | 7.0 | 2.6 |
| Yards passing | 369 | 169 |
| Pass completions–attempts | 27–38 | 19–42 |
| Interceptions thrown | 1 | 3 |
| Punt returns–total yards | 1–11 | 2–35 |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 1–22 | 3–61 |
| Punts–average yardage | 2–51.5 | 6–42.8 |
| Fumbles–lost | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Penalties–yards | 7–72 | 5–35 |
| Time of possession | 29:23 | 30:37 |
LSU statistics :
| Tigers passing ||||||
| | C–A | Yds | TD–INT |
| Garrett Nussmeier | 11–15 | 173 | 2–1 |
| Jayden Daniels | 12–17 | 139 | 1–0 |
| Malik Nabers | 2–2 | 50 | 1–0 |
| Walker Howard | 2–4 | 7 | 0–0 |
| Tigers rushing ||||||
| | Car | Yds | TD |
| Jayden Daniels | 6 | 67 | 0 |
| Noah Cain | 8 | 58 | 2 |
| John Emery Jr. | 7 | 52 | 1 |
| Derrick Davis Jr. | 6 | 29 | 1 |
| Walker Howard | 3 | 18 | 0 |
| Nick Demas | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Tigers receiving ||||||
| | Rec | Yds | TD |
| Malik Nabers | 9 | 163 | 1 |
| Mason Taylor | 5 | 88 | 1 |
| Kyren Lacy | 2 | 57 | 0 |
| Brian Thomas Jr. | 4 | 31 | 1 |
| Landon Ibieta | 2 | 15 | 0 |
| Jayden Daniels | 1 | 5 | 1 |
| Noah Cain | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| John Emery Jr. | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Javen Nicholas | 1 | 2 | 0 |
Purdue statistics :
| Boilermakers passing ||||||
| | C–A | Yds | TD–INT |
| Austin Burton | 12–24 | 74 | 0–1 |
| Michael Alaimo | 4–11 | 37 | 1–1 |
| Jack Albers | 2–6 | 32 | 0–1 |
| Abdur-rahmaan Yaseen | 1–1 | 26 | 0–0 |
| Boilermakers rushing ||||||
| | Car | Yds | TD |
| Devin Mockobee | 13 | 48 | 0 |
| Tyrone Tracy Jr. | 4 | 26 | 0 |
| Michael Alaimo | 5 | 15 | 0 |
| Ryan Brandt | 1 | 7 | 0 |
| Jack Sullivan | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Deion Burks | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Jacob Wahlberg | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Caleb Lahey | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Jack Albers | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Dylan Downing | 1 | −1 | 0 |
| TJ Sheffield | 1 | −3 | 0 |
| Austin Burton | 5 | −14 | 0 |
| Boilermakers receiving ||||||
| | Rec | Yds | TD |
| TJ Sheffield | 7 | 56 | 1 |
| Devin Mockobee | 3 | 26 | 0 |
| Abdur-rahmaan Yaseen | 2 | 21 | 0 |
| Max Klare | 1 | 20 | 0 |
| Tyrone Tracy Jr | 2 | 13 | 0 |
| Ben Buechel | 1 | 12 | 0 |
| Paul Piferi | 1 | 11 | 0 |
| Mershawn Rice | 2 | 10 | 0 |