When one thinks of New Year’s Day bowl games, what usually comes to mind are the several marquee matchups slated for the first day of the new year.

Trust me, there are plenty of those throughout this bowl season, but one that likely won’t gain the notoriety of the masses is this year’s Citrus Bowl between Missouri and Minnesota.

But it should.

The clash in Orlando, Fla., features two teams that weren’t thought of as tough competition prior to the season in their respective conferences.

Of course this is a storyline Missouri is more than used to by now. The consummate underdog, no one ever gives Missouri a chance and the expectations for the Tigers in 2014 was one of mediocrity. But once again, the Tigers outperformed expectations and are now facing an opportunity to obtain their 11th win on the season.

For Minnesota, the Golden Gophers are never on the radar of SEC fans or even many Big Ten fans, but head coach Jerry Kill — much like Missouri’s Gary Pinkel — has developed those under-the-radar recruits that no other schools gave much of a shot.

“Minnesota has ranked near the bottom of the Big Ten in recruiting rankings under Kill, yet continue to get better,” said Josh Stephens of Gophers247. “30 percent of the 44 guys in the Gopher two deeps this season had only one power conference offer, which was Minnesota. Kill and his staff really understand this whole concept and have bought into that formula …”

Despite the lack of attention Minnesota may receive on a national or even a conference level, Pinkel understands that the Golden Gophers present a very tough challenge for his 10-win football team.

“We’re playing a very good team in Minnesota. I’ve known coach Jerry Kill for a long time,” Pinkel said in the Citrus Bowl press conference. “He’s just done a remarkable job. We play so many later games, I think I’ve watched four or five of their games on Saturdays before we played ours.”

Because of the unexpected success both teams have had on the field this year, it should be no surprise that both coaches were rewarded with individual awards. Both Pinkel and Kill were their respective conference’s Coach of the Year recipients.

The common denominator among these two teams is the heart and determination that they’ve shown throughout the years. All teams have this characteristic, but not many take it to the level of Minnesota and Missouri and it’s what helped bring them success.

Minnesota pushed CFP semi-finalist and conference champion to the brink on national television, losing 31-24 in nail biter. The Golden Gophers have been an absolute menace on the road, finishing the regular season with a close 10-point loss at one of the Big Ten’s toughest venues, Camp Randall Stadium, and also defeating Michigan and Nebraska in their respective home stadiums.

Like Minnesota, Missouri’s heart and determination made the Tigers a tough out on the road. Faced with having to win three-straight games at the end of the season to make it to the SEC Championship, Missouri took down Texas A&M and Tennessee in away games and then defeated Arkansas in the regular season finale. Missouri was an underdog in all three games.

“I think understanding when you play in [the SEC], it’s so remarkably competitive and it’s a fourth quarter league, you have to win games in the fourth quarter,” Pinkel said. “I don’t have the magic formula. We didn’t change anything. We did what we do … we’re very fortunate we’ve had some success and hopefully it’ll continue.”

This year’s Citrus Bowl matchup won’t feature a ton of star power, but that’s OK. Missouri and Minnesota are two teams that have had a chip on their shoulder all season and don’t expect that to change come Jan. 1 as they fight for the attention and respect of their college football brethren.