Kansas State Wildcats will play Rutgers at Rate Bowl in Phoenix. Here are the details

Kansas State is heading to a familiar destination this bowl season.

The Wildcats are going back to Arizona for their eighth bowl trip in the desert. This time they will play in the Rate Bowl against Rutgers. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. (Central Time) on Dec. 26 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

It will be a battle of teams from the Big 12 and the Big Ten.

K-State enters the postseason with an overall record of 8-4. Rutgers finished 7-5 during the regular season.

The state of Arizona has been a popular bowl destination for K-State over the years. Bill Snyder took the Wildcats to their second postseason game in school history when they beat Wyoming 52-17 at the Copper Bowl in 1993. That game was played in Tucson.

The location and name of this bowl game have changed many times since then. It feels like K-State gets in every time things change.

K-State also played in this game in 2001 when it was called the Insight.com Bowl, in 2013 when it was called the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl and most recently in 2017 when it was called the Cactus Bowl.

The Wildcats also made trips to the Phoenix area in 1997, 2004 and 2013 for the Fiesta Bowl.

Things went well for K-State during its last trip to Phoenix when it defeated UCLA 35-17 behind 158 rushing yards from former quarterback Alex Delton.

K-State has only played Rutgers once before. The Scarlet Knights won that game against the Wildcats 37-10 at the Texas Bowl in 2006.

Coach Chris Klieman has guided the Wildcats to a 2-2 record in bowl games. K-State won the Pop-Tarts Bowl last season against North Carolina State.