Independence Bowl 2011: TV Schedule, Live Streaming, Radio, Game Time and More

The AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl highlights a game between the Missouri Tigers of the Big 12 and the North Carolina Tar Heels of the ACC.

The AdvoCare Independence Bowl is the 11th-longest-running bowl in college football and will be hosting a bowl contest for the 36th time.

The Missouri Tigers and North Carolina Tar Heels don't have much football history between the two of them. In fact, they have met just twice, Missouri winning both games—the last one being in 1976. Missouri will be making its third appearance in the Independence Bowl while North Carolina will be making its first.

Both teams generally considered better basketball than football programs (Missouri ranked 10th and North Carolina fourth in the AP Top 25 Basketball Poll), don't doubt their football abilities as these two schools are rising powers in this arena as well.

Missouri and North Carolina are two programs starting to build a greater football tradition for the future, and a huge stepping stone on this path will be their matchup against one another in the Independence Bowl.

Here is everything you need to know and more about the game...

Where: Independence Bowl - Shreveport, Louisiana

When: Monday, December 26 - 5 p.m. ET

Where to Watch: ESPN2/ESPN3

Where to Listen: Sports USA (National), KEEL 710 AM (Local)

Key Storyline

This game will mark the first time that Missouri and North Carolina will face each other since 1976 and will also be the first time a team from the Big 12 has been matched up against a team from the ACC in this bowl.

Missouri has made appearances in eight straight bowl games and North Carolina has been impressive with four straight.

Both the Tigers and Tar Heels finished with 7-5 records and were considered to be in "rebuilding" seasons. Each team is also led by sophomore quarterbacks who look to have bright futures ahead of them and will be looking for a bowl win to build a 2012 season off of.

Missouri will be the favored team coming into this game, having more impressive wins and better overall statistics. The Tigers, just like the Tar Heels, are rather average in just about every statistical category except for rushing yards, in which Missouri ranks 11th in the nation with 236.3 rushing yards per game.

A win in this bowl game should propel the winner with greater confidence heading into a 2012 college football season and provide a lot of upside to the future of their football programs.

What this game means for Missouri

For the Tigers, this game will culminate a season that was quite the roller-coaster ride.

After losing Blaine Gabbert to the NFL, the Tigers had difficulty establishing an identity early on, but were later led by Henry Josey and James Franklin to impressive wins over Texas A&M and Texas.

Missouri had heartbreaking performances against Arizona State University (37-30 OT loss) and Baylor (42-39 loss) and definitely had the opportunity to win nine games despite being quite a young and developing team.

This game will mean experience for the young players to get exposure in the college football postseason and, if they win, will provide a solid foundation for the future in 2012.

What this game means for North Carolina

More than anything for the Tar Heels, this game will be to prove to the nation that they are relevant and actually a good team.

For the most part, North Carolina beat the teams that it was supposed to beat, but could not manage to find that one defining win during their 2011 campaign in the ACC. They played very close and impressive games against Georgia Tech (35-28), Miami (30-24), and Virginia Tech (24-21), but unfortunately all of these games culminated in a loss.

A win against Missouri in this contest will not only boost confidence for a young North Carolina team heading into 2012, but will also give the Tar Heels a signature win in 2011 that they have been searching for.

Key Player for Missouri: QB James Franklin

No one player on the Tigers makes Missouri flow the way they do better than QB James Franklin, and due to the injury of RB Henry Josey, Franklin will need to play well in this game if the Tigers are to have a shot.

Franklin is a dual-threat quarterback who is one of the rising stars in the nation and when has good performances, Missouri is usually in the game until the very end, no matter who the opponent is.

Key Player for North Carolina: QB Bryn Renner

Generally I would have said that they key player for North Carolina would be on the defensive side of the ball, but because of Missouri's weak pass-defense, Renner will need a big game if North Carolina wants to pull off the upset.

His best performance came against Wake Forest when he racked up 338 yards through the air and a 75 percent completion percentage, demonstrating just how good a quarterback this kid can be.

Missouri will win this game if

Missouri will win this game if they can establish their rushing attack against a weak North Carolina defense and have James Franklin play mistake-free football for the most part at the quarterback position.

If Missouri is able to start running the ball consistently, they can keep the ball out of the Tar Heels hands and rack up the points.

North Carolina will win this game if

North Carolina will win this game if Bryn Renner is able to find wide receiver Dwight Jones early and often and is able to pick apart a weak Missouri secondary. Getting his confidence and momentum going will play a large part in deciding the outcome of this game.

Key Matchup: Missouri running-game vs. North Carolina defense

As stated previously, Missouri has the 11th best rushing attack in the nation with 263.3 yards per game, and despite missing RB Henry Josey, both James Franklin and backup RB Kendial Lawrence still provide legitimate threats on every play to run the ball.

On the flip side, the North Carolina defense has impressed in some games but fallen completely flat in others, and have been susceptible to giving up big gains on the ground.

Despite this inconsistency, the Tar Heels defense has proven to be very good at stopping the run at times and will need to step up in this game to limit the attack of the Missouri Tigers.

If they are unable to halt the rushing attack of Missouri, look for this game to get ugly fast.

Prediction

Missouri 31, North Carolina 17