Jacksonville is the largest and most populous city in Florida, and is home to one of the oldest and most prestigious bowl games in college football. Each year, one of the best teams in the Southeastern Conference takes on a top team from the Big Ten Conference or the Atlantic Coast Conference in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. The Gator Bowl is held at Everbank Stadium, which opened as Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in 1995 and currently holds 67,184 for Jacksonville Jaguars games and up to 82,000 for bowl games and the annual Georgia-Florida game.

TaxSlayer Gator Bowl History

The inaugural Gator Bowl took place on January 1, 1946, as a near-capacity crowd of 7,362 saw Wake Forest defeat South Carolina 26-14. Due to popular demand, Fairfield Stadium was soon expanded and renamed Gator Bowl Stadium, after the venue's marquee event. The Gator Bowl has been played on the same site since its inception, with the exception of the December 1994 game held at Gainesville while the original Gator Bowl Stadium was being demolished and rebuilt. From 2015 to 2017, the game was known simply as the TaxSlayer Bowl, but its original name was reintroduced for the 2018 edition.

The most infamous moment by far in Gator Bowl history took place in 1978, when Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes punched Clemson nose guard Charlie Bauman after the latter made a game-clinching interception. The punch, and the subsequent firing of Hayes, overshadowed the Tigers' 17-15 upset of a Top 10 Buckeye team. The 1980 matchup is notable for having Hugh Green and the No. 3 ranked Pitt Panthers obliterate Heisman winner George Rogers and the South Carolina Gamecocks, 37-9. The December 31, 2018, Gator Bowl featured the Texas A&M Aggies scoring 45 unanswered points against North Carolina State in a 52-13 victory over the Wolfpack.