![]() ![]() The Gators are in the Orange Bowl for the fourth time, having won each of their previous three appearances. ![]() “This type of accolade, they’re the result of a lot of hard work over a long period of time.” ![]() “I’m just so happy for our players,” Virginia athletic director Carla Williams said. The Cavaliers didn’t go to their first bowl game until 1984. Virginia turned down a chance to play in the Orange Bowl after the 1951 season, because the school at the time didn’t want to be part of major college football. This Orange Bowl trip was a long time coming for the Cavaliers - almost 70 years in the making. “That was us playing, but we’re a better team than we showed.” “That wasn’t us,” Virginia wide receiver Hasise Dubois said. Virginia lost to Notre Dame, Louisville, Miami and Saturday’s ACC championship game to Clemson in a 62-17 rout. I mean, there’s a lot of teams not doing that.”įlorida’s only losses were to CFP-bound and top-ranked LSU, along with SEC runner-up Georgia. “We went out to aggressively schedule two Power 5 teams non-conference. We played a tough non-conference schedule,” said Dan Mullen, the Florida coach who became the first in school history to start his Gators career with consecutive double-digit-win seasons. The Gators beat Miami 24-20 and Florida State 40-17 the Cavaliers lost to the Hurricanes 17-9 and beat the Seminoles 31-24 after rallying with two touchdowns in the final 6:02. It’s an uncommon matchup: The only time the schools have played in football was 1959, a 55-10 win for the Gators at Florida Field.īut there are two common opponents in 2019 - Miami and Florida State. “So my job is to advance our program and have it match those stages at a really high level.” “Each year the bowl game quality and tier seems to be escalating, the stage that it’s on seems to be escalating,” Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall said. It’s the first Orange Bowl bid in Virginia history and the first New Year’s Six - the tag given to the Orange, Rose, Sugar, Cotton, Peach and Fiesta bowls - appearance for the Cavaliers since going to the Peach in 1998. “South Florida is an important region for our program, and home for many Gators,” Florida athletic director Scott Stricklin said. ![]()
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