Florida Gators to play East Carolina Pirates in the 2015 Birmingham Bowl

Bowl-eligible after missing the postseason in 2013, the Florida Gators (6-5) on Sunday officially earned a berth to the 2015 Birmingham Bowl, where they will take on the East Carolina Pirates (8-4) on Saturday, January 3 at 12 p.m. ET.

Florida and East Carolina will play at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama. The game will be televised on ESPN.

It marks the first time the Gators will play in the Birmingham Bowl, which was established in 2006 and is owned and operated by ESPN.

As it turns out, UF and ECU are also scheduled to square off in each team’s second game of the 2015 season as Florida will host East Carolina on Sept. 12, 2015 in Gainesville, Florida. The teams will play each other twice in 253 days.

Defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin will serve as the Gators’ interim coach during the Birmingham Bowl, the second time Florida’s had an interim coach for a bowl game in the last seven years.

“We’re very excited to be heading to the Birmingham Bowl,” Durkin said in a school release. “Our guys are ready to get back on the field to begin preparation to face a very good ECU team.”

UF is 20-20 all-time in bowl games, 7-6 this century.

OnlyGators.com will update this story shortly.