GAINESVILLE, Fla. – For the third time in 14 seasons, it’s the Florida Gators and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Outback Bowl.

The No. 17 Gators (8-4) had a chance at a Sugar Bowl bid, but suffered a blowout loss to No. 1 Alabama 54-16 in the SEC Championship Game on Saturday. In two seasons under coach Jim McElwain, Florida has entered the bowl contest after back-to-back losses to Florida State and the Crimson Tide.

In most cases, a non-championship bowl game is considered a glorified exhibition game that celebrates the end of the season. For Florida, however, one could argue that this is a must-win game. Ending another season with three consecutive losses would be a significant blow to Gator Nation.

For McElwain, there is certainly some bitterness that the bowl game does not give him the opportunity to add another 10-win season on his resume. In order to reschedule the game with LSU, UF dropped the Nov. 19 game with Presbyterian, which Florida would have beaten. But Florida enters the game 8-4, meaning another double-digit win season will have to wait until at least 2017.

Here’s everything you need to know about Iowa:

Season in review: In the 18th season under coach Kirk Ferentz, Iowa finished 8-4 overall on the season, with a 6-3 conference record good enough for second in the Big Ten West behind Wisconsin. The highlight of conference play was without a doubt the 14-13 upset win over then-No. 3 Michigan.

Any College Football Playoff hopes for the Hawkeyes were dashed when they fell to FCS power North Dakota State 23-21 in Week 3. Iowa entered the game ranked No. 13, and dropped out of the polls after the loss. The Hawkeyes, however, are back in the polls at No. 21 thanks to a strong finish.

The Michigan game seems to be a turning point for Iowa, which won its final three games. It capped the regular season at home with a 40-10 upset of then-No. 16 Nebraska.

What they do best: The Hawkeyes play very stingy defense. Michigan was held to 201 yards of total offense, less than half of what it averages per game (439.9 yards).

The Michigan game wasn’t an anomaly. Illinois was held to 198 total yards at home and Nebraska could only manage 217 total yards in the regular-season finale. For Florida, that could mean a lot of work for punter Johnny Townsend and kicker Eddy Pineiro.

Best offensive player: Senior RB LeShun Daniels Jr. has come on strong lately for the Hawkeyes, logging 317 yards on the ground in the Hawkeyes’ past two games. Daniels has only hit triple digits running the ball four times this season, but he enters the game as a 1,000-yard rusher.

Oct 8, 2016; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes running back LeShun Daniels Jr. (29) rushes for a first down in the second half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at TCF Bank Stadium. The Hawkeyes won 14-7. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Daniels averages 5.1 yards per carry, with 1,013 yards on 198 carries this season. In Iowa’s four losses, that number is generally under 4 yards per carry (he averaged 3.9 in the win over Michigan). In some of the Hawkeyes’ bigger wins, Daniels averages above 6 yards per carry.

Best defensive player: It’s a little hard to understand why Iowa LB Josey Jewell is one of the best linebackers in the eyes of the Butkus Award (he’s a finalist), but not one of the three best linebackers in the Big Ten according to conference coaches and media members (second-team All-Big Ten).

With 114 tackles this season, Jewell is No. 1 on his team, No. 2 in the Big Ten and No. 20 in the country. By comparison, Gators standout Jarrad Davis only has 60 tackles this season in nine games. Jewell is not an edge rusher, as evidenced by only having half a sack on the season. He does well in coverage, however, with 8 pass breakups.

Bowl history: Iowa will be playing in its 30th bowl game, with a record of 14-14-1. The Hawkeyes first bowl game was the 1957 Rose Bowl against Oregon State, which they won 35-19. Twenty-seven of the 29 bowl appearances have occurred from 1982 (a Rose Bowl loss to Washington) to 2015 (a Rose Bowl loss to Stanford).

The school’s most impressive recent bowl win was a 24-14 victory over Georgia Tech in 2010 Orange Bowl, Iowa’s only BCS bowl win during that period (1998-2013).

Notable: As mentioned at the top, Iowa and Florida have met previously in the postseason. The 2004 Outback Bowl featured a Florida team that had gone 6-2 in the SEC under a second-year coach, much like the current Gators (both squads also lost to FSU). The Hawkeyes took Round 1, 37-17.

Two years later, Urban Meyer went 8-3 in his first season in Gainesville and the Gators were awarded the Outback Bowl and a rematch with Iowa. In the first of five bowl wins for Meyer at Florida, the Gators won 31-24.

McElwain is certainly hoping that his first UF bowl win will come against Iowa when the teams meet to welcome in 2017.