Gators to the Outback?
by Pat Dooley
ATLANTA — Florida will find out which bowl it will be playing in on Jan. 1 and the choices appear to be down to two.
While the Gator Bowl appeared to be a lock for UF with a match-up against Penn State, the Outback Bowl may be poised to “steal the Gator Bowl’s game” according to a source.
The reason? Florida and Penn State offer a brand that schools such as South Carolina and Mississippi State can’t compete with and “it’s all about TV ratings:, according to the source.
If South Carolina wins today’s SEC Championship Game, that would drop Florida back to the Gator Bowl because either LSU or Alabama would be available to the Outback.
If Auburn wins, the line-up could very well look like this:
Auburn and Arkansas to BCS bowls.
LSU to the Cotton.
Alabama to the Capital One.
Florida to the Outback.
Tennessee to the Gator to face Michigan.
South Carolina to the Chick-fil-A.
Mississippi State to the Music City.
Georgia to the Liberty.
Kentucky to the Compass.
Stay tuned.
Pat Dooley shot an 85 at Augusta National. Tripled the 18th. Other than that, there’s not much to tell. Great wife, two beautiful daughters. Been at The Sun since 1987 and worked in Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale before that. Spent a year in Storrs, Conn. Actually, it was only five days but it seemed like a year. Likes Tom Petty, The Beatles, Weezer and long walks on St. Augustine Beach as long as they end at the Beachcomber. Reads every e-mail except those sent with Russian alphabet. Favorite sports are college football, college basketball, golf and cooking chili.
Not much football to talk about. How’s your chili? Another common interest. I make “sissy” chili, as most of my family doesn’t like it very hot, but I have a lot of fans in that area.
by Paul Pate
I say the matchup should be Florida and Illinois in some repus bowl. Zook vs. Meyer would sell tickets, something they’ll need to have happen.
by D. Alderman
I’m watching Auburn and we had no chance against them. South Carolina did us a favor.
by Atl Gator
Auburn would have beaten us up and taken our helmets for trophies. Thanks Steve, we’ll need our helmets next year….hopefully.
by scottrod
Why don’t you post my comments? They’re on topic and not abusive.
by D. Alderman
Wow! Cam Newton,… TOO good!
BEST I’ve ever seen!
Fast, nimble, strong, and an accurate arm to boot.
Looks NFL ready right now!
Now I know how our SEC opponents felt,…
…hoping he doesn’t stay for another go around (but he looks like he’s having so much fun, I’ll bet he does).
IGTBAG!
Ciao
by quickenedspirit
great already purchased my tickets to atlanta and now looks like miss state may not be going. ugh
by t lo
Congrats to Aw-burn fans everywhere! Cam Newton is the best around, though it’s apparent the Tigers feature several other outstanding players. Too bad post-game Cam referred to his teammates as “my supporting cast,” but it is consistent with his gloating. And when have you seen a team win a championship, hoisting the quarterback for the victory ride rather than the coach who recruited the QB and got them there? And kudos to Urban Meyer, who changed football in the SEC when he brought his spread offense into the conference, as well as introducing both Tim Tebow, the prototype, and Cam Newton, who is simply sensational, as spread option QBs. Meyer has impacted the league as Steve Spurrier did in 1990. Go Gators!
by wileymac
Let’s hope our bowl opponent is a team we can compete with and not one that makes us look as inept as we have in our losses.
I agree that we would have been blown out as bad or worse as USC yesterday since Newton may have felt like he had a score to settle.
Regarding Spurrier’s loss in Atlanta last night, I believe he lost in his first SEC Championship Game (Alabama) and in his first National Championship Game (Nebraska) but he seems to be a quick learner judging by his success the very next year in each of those games. I suspect USC will be a serious threat to UF for a few years to come as they get used to winning.
by G8RnGA
After the loss to Auburn, Spurrier apologized to the SC fans, at least twice, for the loss and also thanked them for their great support. Meyer asked gator fans to show up in the thousands and to be wearing all blue…that the team would come to play. I’m still waiting for Meyer to say something to OUR fans. I know Tebow always looked out for us and acknowledged us but he’s gone, Urban. Your mind must be too consumed with recruiting tough players to offer some appreciation our way. Just a crumb would be nice. Nevermind…too late.
by swamplifer
Pat,
I wanna’ see the so-called ‘Lil’ Guys’ (T.C.U. and Boise State) PLAY SEC SCHOOLS!!!
TCU vs LSU in COTTON.
Alabama vs Boise St. -ANYWHERE!
And as for FLA and Penn ST. ughhhhhhhhhh!!!
But “WAIT TIL NEXT YEAR!!!” the young ones can’t really relate -til NOW!!
Thanks for all YOU DO , PAT!!!
FLA BASKETBALL is Up and COMING….right?!?
GO GATORS!!!!
gatorgi70x7
by gatorgi70x7
Auburn would have beaten us by 100 points on Saturday.
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Think about that USC defense, which abused our O-line all game, and was shredded by Auburn. Then think about how porous our defense was against the run.
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Think about the Auburn defense, which has been practicing against an offense very similar to ours all season, and is very stout against the run.
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Nobody is more of a Gator than me, but I see Auburn shutting us down like USC did, and scoring on every offensive drive. And doing it in 4-5 plays.
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I think it would have been 70-0 at half, and maybe 112-0 at game’s end.
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Thank you Steve, for saving UF. We can live down a bad loss to USC in the regular season. Nobody remembers regular season games by mediocre teams. But to get slapped the way Auburn would have done to us in the SECCG, watched by the nation, would have put a negative stamp on the program that might have taken a decade to get past. I really mean this.
by Lizardgrad89
I have just read that the Gators are going to the Outback Bowl to play Penn State. Here comes another humiliation! I would have thought that Meyer would have had the class to turn down any bowl bid just to spare us any more of this horrible season. There is not a Gator fan out there that believes we deserve a bowl game!
by Gary
Why is Urban keeping Addazio as corridnator? I almost hate he came back. The outback made a mistake they won’t sale any tickets. I hope Meyer steps down for good next time he steps down.
by gatorsrn1
Urban can’t be serious about Dumbazzio he can’t be!
by Atl Gator
It’s all coach speak about Addazio. He will be gone soon. Just keep hitting the refresh button on your browser for the story.
by Mike
That is how it always begins; loyalty to the assistants. Within a couple of years its over. Meyer may be ready for that but, I hate to see him take the program down with him. Maybe it’s Foley’s idea. If he wants Mullen or Malzahn he may want them to have a bit more seasoning.
by GolfHog
Cam… seriously… don’t stay. Took much smoke around you. If you can go.. and it certainly looks that way…. Go on..take the money and run !!
Congrat’s by the way.
Go Gators… good match .. Urban vs JoePa
by Gatornation
Goodbye Urban and goodbye Dumbazzio!!!!!!!
by Atl Gator
Back to the Penn State game, UF has had the bad luck of facing a couple of big 10 teams in otherwise meaningless bowl games that are saying goodbye to a coach, and are therefore far more motivated than UF. This time, however, UF gets to be the more motivated team.
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Unless, of course, JoePa calls it quits in the next couple weeks, then we lose that edge. (ROFL, like THAT’S going to happen.)
by Lizardgrad89
i just love the gators–get a free faver-gator fans—-www.fanwaver.com –go gators
by george edward
i just love the gator-get a free-fanwaver–www.fanwaver.com–an go gators
by george edward