2013 Gator Bowl: Northwestern vs. Mississippi State

[spuwho]

Gator Bowl might be grumbling, but look at the Orange Bowl.

FSU has to play the MAC champion, Northern Illinois.

NIU has not been a push over in the past (they have beaten Iowa, Georgia and Maryland) and they are a good team this year, however, their coach will not be there because he is now the coach at NC State. (Dave Doeren)

NIU has not faced the same level of competition in the MAC, that FSU has faced in the ACC.  Because the MAC is non-BCS, NIU has been stuck playing either Fresno State or UNLV in the International Bowl or in the GMAC Bowl in the post season.

FSU playing either Ohio State or Penn State would have been interesting, but their ineligibility has caused a BCS power shortage.

FYI: Northwestern has over 18,000 alumni in Florida and sold their total allotment when they played Auburn in the Citrus Bowl on that gawd awful field years ago.

So I think the Gator Bowl did just fine under the circumstances.

[urbanlibertarian]

Nice video I-10east.
Heard GBA guy Rick Cattlett say on 1010XL that his job was to fill hotel rooms and put butts in the seats.  Bowl games are advertising for the cities, schools and sponsors and a treat for the student athletes.  There are a LOT of people deeply vested in the bowl game status quo.  Change will come very slowly.

[moosebumps]

I am an MSU graduate who has been living/working in Jacksonville for the past 7 years.  We're excited and hoping that travel arrangements come through for my friends currently trying to make plans.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

[Tacachale]

I am an MSU graduate who has been living/working in Jacksonville for the past 7 years.  We're excited and hoping that travel arrangements come through for my friends currently trying to make plans.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Awesome! When Mississippi State played here in 2010 you put something like 20,000 butts in seats and crushed Michigan. My father in law wasn't too pleased with that result, but regardless the Dawgs are always welcome in Jacksonville.

Nice video I-10east.
Heard GBA guy Rick Cattlett say on 1010XL that his job was to fill hotel rooms and put butts in the seats.  Bowl games are advertising for the cities, schools and sponsors and a treat for the student athletes.  There are a LOT of people deeply vested in the bowl game status quo.  Change will come very slowly.

Hopefully the Gator Bowl can pursue change within the status quo to move up in the pecking order and become a bigger game again. As for change coming, remember that while bowl games are very old, this BCS BS dates only to 1998, and it's the major cause of problems with the bowl system since then. Beginning in the 2014 season, change is coming in the form of a playoff among the top contenders, which hopefully will even things out among all the bowls.

[urbanlibertarian]

I am an MSU graduate who has been living/working in Jacksonville for the past 7 years.  We're excited and hoping that travel arrangements come through for my friends currently trying to make plans.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

Dude, if the Jags ever make it to the Superbowl they'll be very lucky to get the welcome MSU is getting.  Forgive us for having great expectations.  I'm a Gator fan and I'll be at the game cheering your Bulldogs.  Hope your friends have a great time in Jax.

[Traveller]

Hopefully the Gator Bowl can pursue change within the status quo to move up in the pecking order and become a bigger game again.

My suspicion is that the only way the GBA gets enough money to outbid the higher bowls is if they're willing to sell the "Gator Bowl" name.  That means going from the TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl to the TaxSlayer.com Bowl.  Or whatever sponsor is willing to pony up the dough.  How does the Flex-N-Gate Bowl sound? 

That's how the Peach Bowl managed to move up to the #2 ACC selection, by selling the "Peach" name to Chick-Fil-A.  When it was the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl, nobody called it that.  They still called it the Peach Bowl.  Chick-Fil-A recognized this fact and offered the bowl more money to get rid of the Peach name entirely.  Now people have to call it the Chick-Fil-A Bowl.

Same with the Citrus Bowl and Capital One Financial Corp.  Same with the Hall of Fame Bowl and Outback Steakhouse.  Unless you've got BCS money, eventually everyone has to sell out.

[copperfiend]

That is correct.

Align yourself with a sponsor and essentially sell the rights to the bowl name. Be a peer with the Capital One Bowl or Chick Fil A Bowl.

Or stay where you are and be happy being a peer bowl with the Alamo Bowl and Music City Bowl.

Do you guys remember the Outback Gator Bowl? Imagine if they had kept that relationship and changed it to the Outback Bowl in 1995 when the stadium opened and was the crown jewel of NFL stadiums.

[BackinJax05]

As Sam Kouvaris tweeted yesterday, if The Gatorbowl Association manages to sell more than 55,000 tickets, they deserve salesman of the year award. This Bowl game has really dropped down in ranking and now only appears on ESP2.

ESPN2? Sad. Thats even worse than when the game was on TBS.

[fsquid]

you can get a ticket for $2.40.

http://www.stubhub.com/gator-bowl-tickets/2012-gator-bowl-1-1-2013-4048584/