Iowa fans, here's a crash course on the Florida Gators

This is the third Iowa-Florida Outback Bowl. Iowa beat the Gators in 2004, 37-17. Two years later, Florida downed the Hawkeyes, 31-24.

The Gators have played nine games against bowl-bound teams, winning five. They beat Kentucky (45-7), Vanderbilt (13-6), Georgia (24-10), South Carolina (20-7) and LSU (16-10). They lost to Tennessee (38-28), Arkansas (31-10), Florida State (31-13) and Alabama (54-16).

Iowa has played seven bowl-bound clubs, going 4-3. The Hawkeyes beat Miami (Ohio), Minnesota, Michigan and Nebraska. They lost to Northwestern, Wisconsin and Penn State.

Florida played only 11 regular-season games because an October game against LSU was postponed to November because of Hurricane Matthews. The Gators canceled their November game against Presbyterian. Florida paid the FCS school $500,000 for the buyout, and the LSU game was moved from Gainesville to Baton Rouge.

Florida starting quarterback Austin Appleby is a graduate transfer from Purdue. He has played in three games against Iowa, with one start. He is 30-for-52 with two touchdown passes and one interception against the Hawkeyes. Each game was an Iowa victory by double-digits.

Appleby moved into the starting slot when Luke Del Rio suffered a midseason shoulder injury.

Six freshmen started for the Gators Saturday in their 54-16 loss to Alabama in the SEC championship game.

Florida's Johnny Townsend leads the nation in punting with a 48.1-yard average.

The Gators hadn't allowed 50 points in a game since their 62-24 loss to Nebraska in the 1995 national-championship game.

Florida lost last season's Citrus Bowl to Michigan, 41-7.

The Gators' most-recent Outback Bowl appearance was in 2010. It was Urban Meyer's final game as their coach. They defeated Joe Paterno-coached Penn State.

Florida is sixth in the nation in total defense (298.6 yards allowed per game). Iowa is 24th (352.8). Florida is 115th in total offense (345.1), Iowa 120th (333.3).

This will be Iowa's 11th game against an SEC team (not counting games against Missouri and Texas A&M when they were in other leagues). Only one was a regular-season game.

There was just one Big Ten-SEC regular-season matchup this year. Wisconsin beat LSU in Green Bay, 16-14.