GAINESVILLE, Fla. – For the second consecutive season, Florida earned and accepted a New Year's Six bowl bid.
The Gators – who routed Michigan, 41-15, in last year's Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl – will remain in the Sunshine State and face No. 24 Virginia in the Capital One Orange Bowl, which is scheduled for Dec. 30. Kickoff at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. is set for 8 p.m., with ESPN televising the game.
This will be Florida's fourth Orange Bowl appearance, and it boasts a 3-0 record in its previous outings. The Gators upset No. 8 Georgia Tech, 27-12, in 1967, routed No. 15 Syracuse, 31-10, in 1999, and dominated No. 10 Maryland, 56-23, in 2002. Florida also won the 2009 BCS National Championship Game at the Orange Bowl site (Dolphin Stadium, now renamed Hard Rock Stadium), as it defeated No. 1 Oklahoma, 24-14, to win its second national title in a three-year span.
The Gators (10-2, 6-2 SEC) will face Virginia (9-4, 6-2 ACC) for the second time in school history. The only other meeting between the two was on Oct. 3, 1959, and the No. 19 Gators came away with a 55-10 victory in Gainesville.
Florida is making its 45th all-time bowl appearance, and it is 23-21 in its previous bowl games. This will be the 19th time the Gators play in a New Year's Six bowl.
With a win in the bowl game, the Gators would record their eighth 11-win season in program history and first since 2012. Moreover, Florida would end consecutive seasons with bowl wins for the first time since a four-year streak from 2008-11. Florida has already secured its second consecutive 10-win season for the first time since 13-win campaigns in 2008 and 2009, and
Dan Mullen is already the first head coach in program history to post 10 wins in each of his first two seasons.
Tickets
The
Gators Ticket Office is accepting bowl order requests now until Monday, Dec. 9 at 11:59 p.m. Football Season Ticket Holders can login to their account (
Account Manager) to place their order. General public sales begin Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 10 a.m. All tickets will be delivered electronically.
Complete bowl ordering information can be found here:
https://floridagators.com/sports/2018/10/22/football-bowl-tickets.aspx
University of Florida students will be receiving separate information about their ordering process for bowl tickets.
What They're Saying
Head Coach Dan Mullen:
"We're looking forward to our trip to Miami to play in the Orange Bowl and a second consecutive New Year's Six Bowl game. Our players and staff have done a great job all year focusing on how we could get better every day, along with developing our mental and physical toughness throughout the year. We finished strong and put ourselves in a position to win 11 games.
"Our staff has been busy recruiting, and the team is preparing for final exams this week."
Athletic Director Scott Stricklin:
"We are honored to accept a bid to play in the Orange Bowl. South Florida is an important region for our program, and home for many Gators. It is rewarding to see all of the work by Coach Mullen, the staff and players pay off with a second consecutive New Year's Six bowl, and it will be a great week in Miami for our players, staff and fans."
Florida's Orange Bowl History
- Jan. 1, 1967 (Miami Orange Bowl) – Florida 27, No. 8 Georgia Tech 12
- Steve Spurrier capped his Heisman Trophy-winning campaign with a modest showing, throwing for 160 yards and an interception on 14-of-30 passing
- Tailback Larry Smith earned MVP honors and set an Orange Bowl record (which would stand until 1978) with 187 rushing yards on 23 carries, the highlight of which was a 94-yard touchdown run in the third quarter
- Graham McKeel scored a pair of rushing touchdowns
- Georgia Tech struck first with a touchdown, but the Gators ran off 27 unanswered points in the final three quarters
- UF outgained Georgia Tech, 449-319, and it outrushed the Yellow Jackets, 284-197
- Jan. 2, 1999 (Miami Orange Bowl) – No. 8 Florida 31, No. 15 Syracuse 10
- Doug Johnson tossed touchdown passes of 51 and 26 yards to Travis Taylor less than three minutes apart to put Florida ahead 14-0 in the first quarter
- Taylor went on to earn MVP honors with seven receptions for 159 yards (an Orange Bowl record) and the aforementioned pair of touchdowns
- Jesse Palmer threw for a touchdown and ran in another in the second quarter
- Terry Jackson rushed for 108 yards on 21 carries
- Florida's defense held Syracuse quarterback Donovan McNabb to 192 yards on 14-of-30 passing, though he did throw a 62-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, and he rushed for 72 yards on 20 carries
- It was the last Orange Bowl ever played at the Miami Orange Bowl
- Jan. 2, 2002 (Pro Player Stadium) – No. 5 Florida 56, No. 10 Maryland 23
- Florida raced to a 28-10 halftime lead, then tacked on another 21 unanswered points in the third quarter to point the game well out of reach
- Rex Grossman threw 248 yards and four touchdowns, though the former did not count toward his school-record 3,896 passing yards for the season
- Taylor Jacobs earned MVP honors with 10 receptions for 170 yards (breaking Travis Taylor's Orange Bowl record, and keeping it himself until 2011) and two touchdown receptions – one from Grossman and another from Brock Berlin
- Fellow receiver Jabar Gaffney tallied seven receptions for 118 yards and two touchdowns
- Earnest Graham finished with 149 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries
- The Gators totaled 659 yards, which was at the time the fourth-highest total in school history and a Gators bowl record. They also threw for 456 yards, but it was just the third-highest total of the season, behind a 507-yard outing against Mississippi State, and a 504-yard outing at LSU
- It was the final game of Steve Spurrier's 12-season tenure as head coach
College Football Playoff Rankings
Florida's No. 9 ranking has it in a similar position to last season, when it finished No. 10 in the CFP Rankings and went on to beat No. 7 Michigan in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl.
