Lovin' the Gator Loca
13 comments so far
December 2, 2008 by
A year ago at this time, I was “lusting� for Bo Pelini to become Nebraska’s next head coach. This year, I’m drooling over the Gator Bowl. No, it’s not the BCS but it’s squarely in the next tier. In fact, I’d argue that after the BCS, the Gator is the next best bowl for a Big 12 team this year.
True, the payout is a bit less than the Cotton Bowl ($3 million versus the Gator Bowl’s $2.5 million), but it’s still more than a team gets for playing in the Alamo ($2.25 million) or Holiday ($2.13 million) bowls. Most importantly, the game is on New Year’s Day. January 1st happens to fall on a Thursday this year so a couple of the traditional New Year’s Day games have moved to Friday (perhaps figuring it would be a day off for many people). The Cotton Bowl is among them. So aside from the Rose and Orange Bowls and two lesser SEC/Big 10 match-ups, the Gator is the only other bowl on New Year’s Day.
Maybe I’m overstating the point but New Year’s Day is arguably the greatest exposure you’ll get in a non-BCS bowl. People have the day off. They make a tradition of watching the games. The Gator is broadcast on a major network (far better than the Texas or Insight bowls which get shipped off to the NFL network). And this year, it won’t have the Cotton Bowl or Liberty Bowl stealing eyeballs opposite the game. It’s a great spot to be if you can’t be in the BCS and want some exposure for your program.
Then there’s the potential opponent. I love the idea of Florida State. FSU’s Bobby Bowden built his program with wins over Nebraska, it only seems fair for Bo Pelini to do the same with the Seminoles. It’s a program the Huskers have history with. In fact, the Huskers arguably had no greater non-conference rival than Florida State in the 1980’s and 1990’s. A win over that team would feel real good.
Georgia Tech would give fans a look at option football. Perhaps it would be painful to see it being used by the opposing team, or perhaps it will show we hired the right coach. A Virginia Tech re-match would be a good chance to put all the talk of Nebraska improving from early in the year to the test. North Carolina would be interesting as two programs on the rise face off.
But whomever the opponent, I want to see Nebraska there, badly.
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Chris Dec 02 08
Question: Why exactly do bowls pay colleges? I don't know the history or the logic behind it...
sweet D Dec 02 08
It's not Florida State!
saunders45 Dec 02 08
I'm hearing Clemson...
JBLING22 Dec 02 08
The bowls have to pay the colleges or teams wouldn't accept the bid to play in them.. Other than say , the National Championship game, there has to be a reason other than just the love of the game to play in it.. Whould a team want to take a financial loss to play say in the Chick a Flick Bowl?? I doubt it, dosn't really make any sense.. It cost money to move large numbers of players and coaches.. Bowls want the best teams playing , so that their sponsors get more exposure, thats why they pay.. They pay to get the best teams in the game...
darren Dec 02 08
Good take, Steve. Nice research and points.
You know me, I'm all about getting NU more media exposure. Sounds like the Gator is very good in that regard, at least for 2008.
The picture has become more clear that NU will *very* likely get the nod, with Clemson as the opponent.
The Tigers may be 7-5, but have a bit of a resurgence going under their newly named coach. They are a good foe, with dangerous (fast!) players.
JBLING22 Dec 02 08
Wow Suh and Slauson 2nd team Big Twelve... I would have thought Suh had a good chance at ALL BIG TWELVE, but I guess his team leading tackles 68, Sacks 5.5, 2 INT for TD weren't enough to beat out Hood, McCoy, Miller, Orakpo, or Williams.. Hopefully he'll still be around next year to garner the award...
If you look at the ALL BIG TWELVE team Nebraska joins Colorado/ Iowa State/ Kansas State with 0 first team selections..
Oklahoma has 9 (7 Offensive players)
Missouri 5
Ok St 4
Texas 4
Baylor has 3
Tech 3
Texas A&M 1
Kansas 1
JBLING22 Dec 02 08
Clemson has been named to the Gator Bowl, and they said that they will be playing Nebraska.
HuskerDeck Dec 03 08
Think about this guys. If we would have beat Texas Tech, we would be playing Saturday night as Big 12 North champs. Who would have thought that after the Mizzou game?
The ole Swede and Husker in South Arkansas
WyHuskerFan Dec 03 08
If Clemson is the opponent in the Gator, and that's were we end up it doesn't do much for the program. Sure we're glad to be in a good bowl regardless of the opponent, however with Clemson being 7-5 and unranked, NU will be favored to win. I would have rather seen us play a ranked team with a chance to move into the final ranking of the year. Unless we blowout an unranked Clemson and 19 through 25 lose their bowl games we will be on the outside looking in. Not a fitting end, however it does dovetail nicely with SUH getting snubbed by the Big XII coaches.
bnahusker Dec 03 08
Do any of you have a good Clemson site to share? I found one but it was terribly slow.
GBR!
Bob
bnahusker Dec 03 08
http://pstrelow.thestateonline.com/
I found one writer's site.
GBR!
Bob
sweet D Dec 03 08
I live in ACC land, I mean in the River City. Clemson has been on a little bit of a roll in the past couple of weeks.
Bo will need to do a good job physically containing the run and mix up coverages to confuse QB Harper.
Clemson has SPEED on the perimeter as well as on Defense. Will the Blackshirts contain the Blazing Speed of HBs James Davis and CJ Spiller?
Offensively, we need to mix it up (as usual) and hold on to the ball.
Clemson has there on version of the Wildcat.
There are definitely some Huskers in Florida.
RU4God2 Dec 03 08
The best Clemson Tiger Site is http://www.tigernet.com