The 2015 Taxslayer (Gator) Bowl: Another dog game

[copperfiend]

Catlett, Verlander and the Gator Bowl crew wanted the SEC so now we get stuck with a mediocre SEC team every year. This year it is 6-6 Tennessee taking on 7-5 Iowa.

Iowa's resume for this year looks like this. 4-4 in a mediocre conference. Loss to 2-10 Iowa State. 4 point win over Ball State.

Tennessee meanwhile was 3-5 in conference. 31 point loss to Ole Miss. 24 point loss to Oklahoma.

So is this what the GBA has settled in for?

I know Verlander will be on local radio this week selling this as a great matchup. I am not buying it.

Sad to see the Gator Bowl has fallen so far.

[fsquid]

They will travel, that is what they care about.

[Noone]

Didn't the Chamber just Visit Nashville?

[Bridges]

They will travel, that is what they care about.

Bingo.  Records aren't the biggest driving factor.  Iowa travels really well, and especially to Florida bowls.  Tennessee travels ok.

Also, Iowa is better than their record suggests.  I've watched a lot of their games.  That being said, final score will be 9-6.

[pierre]

We'll see. We've been told that SEC teams travel well but a few recent Gator Bowls have seen half empty stadiums.

[CG7]

Catlett can spin this anyway he wants, but my son and I have been contemplating going to the game since Thanksgiving after seeing some of the match up predictions. After we heard the teams we both said UH NO!! at the same time, As a matter of fact the game is so bad I think we are even going to skip the parade for the first time in 17 years.

[Dapperdan]

Isn't any game that is not part of the college championship just pointless now? I mean, I guess the schools get some money, but for fans, whoop dee doo. You just won a completely meaningless bowl game.

[tufsu1]

^ well then that same logic would apply to regular season games after a team has a few losses...have the Jaguars games been meaningless for the last month?

[Dapperdan]

The fans treat it as such. CNN is running a photo of the Jags-Texans game at halftime when it looks like 20 people are in the stands. My point is not with the NFL, but the dribble that college footballs gives us this time of year. I suspect ESPN will have low ratings for most of these games.

[Tacachale]

We go through this every year. The Gator Bowl (I refuse to call it the "Taxslayer Bowl") has dropped in the selection ladder because our previous selection agreement - ACC and the Big East - was a sinking ship for obvious reasons. They started over with SEC and Big 10 but that has meant starting at the bottom and hopefully climbing up. Beyond that, it's just the general decline in bowl games in the BCS and playoff era. But each year they've made some strides: increasing the payout, adding ACC, increasing sponsorships, etc.

[pierre]

Catlett can spin this anyway he wants, but my son and I have been contemplating going to the game since Thanksgiving after seeing some of the match up predictions. After we heard the teams we both said UH NO!! at the same time, As a matter of fact the game is so bad I think we are even going to skip the parade for the first time in 17 years.

He has really run this game into the ground.

Just taking a look at other bowl matchups. Here are a few with clearly better matchups than the Taxslayer Bowl here.

Valero Alamo Bowl
Kansas State vs. UCLA

Russell Athletic Bowl
Clemson vs. Oklahoma

Franklin Amer. Mort. Music City Bowl
Notre Dame vs. LSU

Belk Bowl
Georgia vs. Louisville

And that is not including the Citrus, Outback, Peach, Cotton and Holiday Bowls which all passed the Gator Bowl long ago.

I mean our game is lower than the Belk Bowl? Music City Bowl? Russell Athletic Bowl?

[Bridges]

^Well a couple of those bowl games aren't an option for us.  Being non-SEC/Big Ten matchups. You also wouldn't want a Pac-12 team making the cross country trip for a "meaningless" bowl game. 

My guess is they didn't want Georgia again, and Georgia probably didn't want here again anyways.  And they didn't want LSU/Iowa rematch of last year.  Iowa is the bigger draw here.  They'll come.  I've already received several calls from Iowans about comping down.

Bowls have been declining for years.  It's a flooded market.  The Gator Bowl has a great time slot though.  Be thankful we aren't a December game.

[Dapperdan]

Sorry to break the news, but I think either this year or next is the last of the Jan 2 slot. We then move back to Dec 30.

[pierre]

We can say whatever we want. The fact is the Gator/Taxslayer Bowl has continued to fall further and further down the totem poll of bowl games. And regardless of whether bowl games as a whole have declined, this game has declined further than most.

[I-10east]

The attendance is also down in the supposed 'marquee bowl games'. The entire thing has been oversaturated for years. There are only three 'postseason' games that matter for the most part, the two playoffs, and the championship game.