Western Kentucky’s football team has accepted an invitation to play in the 2024 Boca Raton Bowl, WKU announced Saturday.

The Hilltoppers will face James Madison in the game, which is scheduled for Dec. 18 at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, Florida. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on ESPN.

WKU athletic director Todd Stewart answered with “an emphatic yes” while accepting a formal invitation to play in the game during a Saturday Zoom call.

“We’ve had great experiences in Boca Raton,” Stewart said. “We’ve been there two other times, we won both times. The state of Florida is on a roll, good things are happening across the state and we’re thrilled to come back to Boca Raton.”

The 2024 Boca Raton Bowl marks WKU’s 11th bowl game in the past 13 seasons. Starting with the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in 2012, the Tops have only missed the postseason in 2013 and 2018. This marks the sixth consecutive bowl game appearance for WKU in six seasons under head coach Tyson Helton. WKU is one of 12 programs to have played in a bowl game each season since 2019 that is also bowl eligible in 2024. The Hilltoppers are one of just seven teams nationally that have won a bowl game in each of the last three seasons. WKU’s seven bowl wins in the last 10 years are behind only Georgia (9), Alabama (8) and Wisconsin (8) during that timeframe.

The program is familiar with its upcoming bowl destination, having played in and won the Boca Raton Bowl in both 2016 and 2021. WKU beat Memphis in the 2016 game, 51-31, and Appalachian State, 59-38, in its last Boca Raton Bowl appearance.

“It’s definitely a destination spot for us,” said WKU head coach Tyson Helton, who coached the Hilltoppers in the 2021 Boca Raton Bowl. “It’s really a place we enjoy going back to. You guys do a great job. We’re excited to get the opportunity to play a really good opponent. That’s what college football’s all about, so we’ll be excited to get down there to play that game.”

Last season, WKU beat Old Dominion in overtime of the Famous Toastery Bowl, 38-35, after overcoming a 28-0 first-half deficit – the fourth-largest comeback ever in a bowl game.

WKU enters bowl season with an 8-5 overall record. The Hilltoppers went 6-2 in Conference USA play this fall and earned a berth in the CUSA Championship Game for the fourth time in program history – tied for most in league history – where they fell to Jax State 52-12 on Friday in Jacksonville, Alabama.

JMU went 8-4 overall this season and 4-4 in Sun Belt play, finishing third in the league’s East Division standings. The Boca Raton Bowl will mark the first meeting between the two programs.

“Bowl games are really important to us, and winning bowl games are important to us,” Helton said. “So we take this very seriously and we’re just excited for this opportunity to be on this stage.”