2013 Gator Bowl: Northwestern vs. Mississippi State

[Tacachale]

Pretty weak match-up for the Gator Bowl this year: Northwestern vs. Mississippi State.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/gator-bowl-gets-less-than-marquee-matchup-with-northwestern-mississippi-state/2012/12/02/beccde66-3ce6-11e2-8a5c-473797be602c_story.html

Granted, the Big 10 selection was messed up by the OSU and Penn State scandals, but we're going to have to find a way to move up the SEC & Big 10 selection ladder if we want to start seeing bigger games played here again.

[fsquid]

doesn't matter, they are all exhibition games.  You just hope the teams bring people to spend money.

[copperfiend]

Pretty terrible matchup. The Gator Bowl's desperation to have an SEC affiliation has pushed them pretty far down the totem pole. And I hate that all these bowls are Big10/SEC matchups.

[Tacachale]

doesn't matter, they are all exhibition games.  You just hope the teams bring people to spend money.

Do you expect these teams to bring many people to spend money?

Pretty terrible matchup. The Gator Bowl's desperation to have an SEC affiliation has them pretty far down the totem pole. And I hate that all these bowls are Big10/SEC matchups.

What's sad is that 6th-7th pick in the SEC and the 4th-5th in the Big 10 is a better financial investment than the 2nd team in both the ACC and Big East.

[acme54321]

What's sad is that 6th-7th pick in the SEC and the 4th-5th in the Big 10 is a better financial investment than the 2nd team in both the ACC and Big East.

No Joke.  If the ACC can't even get people to show up at their championship what would make anyone think that they would go to a bowl game?

[copperfiend]

What's sad is that 6th-7th pick in the SEC and the 4th-5th in the Big 10 is a better financial investment than the 2nd team in both the ACC and Big East.

I liked it when the Gator Bowl had the Big12 tie-in. That Clemson/Nebraska game was pretty well attended. But unless you get Clemson, Va Tech, FSU or NC State, nobody shows up.

[Dapperdan]

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.

[CityLife]

True story, The Gator Bowl averaged 70,658 in its last 10 years with the old ACC tie in (2001-2010). Last year with UF and OSU attendance was 61,312. Only one year of the past 10 with the old tie in had lower attendance and that was UVA vs. Texas Tech in 2008 with 60,243.

Of course attendance is down at sporting events nationwide (HD TV and the economy), but still the new Gator Bowl tie ins are not interesting at all.

[copperfiend]

Hopefully with the upcoming playoff model, there will be some sort of re-bidding for the non-BCS games. We have one of the best stadiums that hosts a bowl game and we are relegated to unranked mediocre SEC teams. You would think with the amount of premium seating we have that we could get ahead of that dump in Orlando.

[urbanlibertarian]

I'll be there.  This is still a great event for Jax.

[exnewsman]

Pretty weak match-up for the Gator Bowl this year: Northwestern vs. Mississippi State.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/gator-bowl-gets-less-than-marquee-matchup-with-northwestern-mississippi-state/2012/12/02/beccde66-3ce6-11e2-8a5c-473797be602c_story.html

Granted, the Big 10 selection was messed up by the OSU and Penn State scandals, but we're going to have to find a way to move up the SEC & Big 10 selection ladder if we want to start seeing bigger games played here again.

Does anyone know how the Gator Bowl with all its history fell behind some of these other bowls (Outback, Capital One, etc) in regards to team selections? Is it just not a big enough payout?

[copperfiend]

It's money. It seems like to me that bowls like the Citrus Bowl (Capital One), Hall of Game Bowl (Outback) and Peach Bowl (Chick-Fil-A) were willing to align themselves with a corporate partner and their payouts to schools increased. The Gator Bowl has narrowed the gap some but ten years ago, it wasn't even close to those games.

[fieldafm]

Pretty weak match-up for the Gator Bowl this year: Northwestern vs. Mississippi State.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/gator-bowl-gets-less-than-marquee-matchup-with-northwestern-mississippi-state/2012/12/02/beccde66-3ce6-11e2-8a5c-473797be602c_story.html

Granted, the Big 10 selection was messed up by the OSU and Penn State scandals, but we're going to have to find a way to move up the SEC & Big 10 selection ladder if we want to start seeing bigger games played here again.

Does anyone know how the Gator Bowl with all its history fell behind some of these other bowls (Outback, Capital One, etc) in regards to team selections? Is it just not a big enough payout?

It's all about the payout.  Everyone's contract is up for renewal this year.  The GBA is currently trying to secure sponsorship to leapfrog the Outback Bowl(which has a higher payout) in conference selection pecking order.

[Tacachale]

It's not just the money, it's the fact that the BCS is BS. After the Big 4 take the best teams rest of the bowls pick from among who's left through financial augury and voodoo magic.

In our case it's also our tie in switches. From 1996, the Gator Bowl had tie ins with the ACC and Big East to take their #2 teams. For various historical reasons, those matchups started declining in draw. During the last 10 years or so, the Big East has turned south in a big way, and the GBA's relationship with both conferences started to deteriorate. In 2007 we got relegated to the #3 pick for the ACC, and to try and make up for the Big East, the GBA signed the deal to split picks between them and the Big 12. The GBA and the ACC had had some other issues as well, notably over the ACC Championship Game, and in 2009 and 2010 they decided to make picks based on who would be a draw, rather than who was highest ranked. In 2010, they grabbed big drawing West Virginia, and then fought with the ACC to let them pick FSU over several higher teams. It was a huge game, but that was pretty much it for the ACC in Jacksonville.

Meanwhile, some of the other bowls, especially the Capitol One and Outback, and to an extent even the Peach Bowl, have gotten higher in the pecking order. This is due to their big payouts as well as their having a longer period of tie ins with more competitive conferences. In order to get tie ins with the SEC and Big Ten, the Gator Bowl has had to start pretty low.

At any rate, it's still a great event for Jax, and we'll see what happens next year, and how the playoffs system shakes out.

[I-10east]

This bit never gets old LOL

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTtJ60mcfFw