Outback Bowl

Date: January 1st, 2011 - 1:00pm EST
Teams: Florida Gators (7-5) vs Penn State Nittany Lions (7-5)
Venue: Raymond James Stadium
Location: Tampa, Florida

The Outback Bowl has is relatively a newcomer to the College Bowl scene since it only had its inaugural game in 1986 when the Boston College Eagles took on the Georgia Bulldogs. The Outback Bowl wasn’t always the moniker of this bowl; it was originally named the Hall Of Fame Bowl and kept that name through the 1995 game. It wasn’t until then that Outback Steakhouse came in and bought the rights to the name of the New Year’s Day game. In 1999, the game moved from Houlihan Stadium to Raymond James Stadium, both of which were the home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League.

Despite the Outback Bowl’s lack of quantity of history it’s not lacking in the quality of history. In the 2000 Outback Bowl the game featured the Georgia Bulldogs, led by quarterback Quincy Carter, going up against the Purdue Boilermakers, who were led by Heisman Trophy Finalist quarterback Drew Brees, in the first sporting event of the new millennium. Brees and the Boilermakers jumped on the Bulldogs early with two Brees touchdowns and ended the first period with a score of 19-0. The Boilermakers would then stretch the lead to 25-0 in the second quarter and almost seemingly broke the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs then mounted the greatest comeback in college bowl game history and with 1:19 left in the game Carter hooked up with tight end Randy McMichael in the back corner of the end zone to knot it all up at 25.

During that span, Purdue kicker Travis Dosch missed two field goals that would’ve put them ahead of the Bulldogs. Both teams failed to score again in regulation and the game was the second bowl game to ever need overtime to determine a winner. Purdue won the opening coin flip and got the first shot at scoring. They had to settle for a 43-yard field goal attempt that was badly missed by Dosch and opened the game up for the Bulldogs. When it was their turn to drive the Bulldogs pushed all the way down to the two yard line and kicker Hap Hines booted the ball through the uprights capping off the greatest comeback in college bowl history. Brees was named the MVP of the game despite being on the losing team for his six Outback Bowl records that he set including the record 378 yards passing.

Last year’s Outback Bowl featured the 9-4 Iowa Hawkeyes against the 7-6 South Carolina Gamecocks. The Hawkeyes came out firing and pitched a shutout for three quarters. By the 4th quarter, the score was Iowa 31, South Carolina 0. The Gamecocks came alive in the fourth reeling off ten straight points and holding the Hawkeyes to zero points in the 4th but it was too late. The damage had been done and the Gamecocks simply ran out of time.

Be sure to get your tickets to the 2010 Outback Bowl and support your team.