(Photo by Charles Massey, Florida Sports Wire)
By Jeff Moeller, Florida Sports Wire
JACKSONVILLE – The TaxSlayer Gator Bowl is alive and well in Jacksonville.
This year’s 79th version of the country’s sixth-oldest bowl game once again had another fantastic finish with Clemson’s frantic 38-35 victory over Kentucky in the game’s final seconds. It was another close contest of seven or less points that has occurred seven times in the last 12 contests.
In spite of the rise of the Jaguars, college football still has a place in Jacksonville. The Gator Bowl should be able to reach its centennial birthday in 2045.
With ticket face prices in the $50-$135 price range, the Gator Bowl remains a bargain in the sports world. Whether or not you’re a fan of either team in the game, it always appears to be an entertaining venue in late December or early January.
The past two games were a must watch, as there were as entertaining and enthralling as any games in the history of the game.
Last season, the game featured the highest scoring total between two teams in bowl game history with Notre Dame outlasting South Carolina, 45-38. The Fighting Irish won it when quarterback Tyler Buchner threw his third and final touchdown pass of the afternoon with 1:38 left in the game. Buchner also ran for two touchdowns.
South Carolina watched a 24-7 lead vanish and it closed to 24-17 at halftime. The Gamecocks’ O’Donnell Fortune set a new bowl record when he returned an interception 100 yards for a touchdown.
From all of the bowl games through Friday, the Clemson-Kentucky three-point outcome was tied for the lowest point differential with one other game? Ironically, it was Jacksonville State’s 34-31 overtime victory over Louisiana in the R&l Carriers New Orleans Bowl.
Yes, college football is alive in Jacksonville.
In Friday’s game, Clemson delighted its fans that visibly filled nearly three-fourths of the crowd of 40,132 at Everbank Stadium with their orange and white. The victory gave the Tigers an overall 5-5 record in the Gator Bowl annals.
Clemson’s caravan erupted when recent alums and current Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence and running back Travis Etienne sauntered along their sidelines in the second half.
It proved to be another entertaining and record-setting day.
Tigers’ running back Phil Mafah set a new bowl mark with his four rushing touchdowns, the last one proved to be the game winner with 17 seconds remaining in the game that made the Clemson contingent of orange and white look like a giant creamsicle.
Clemson kicker Jonathan Weitz added his name to the bowl record book when he booted a 523-yard field goal.
Kentucky quarterback Devin Leary also joined the annals as a 300-yard passer with his 306-yard performance, becoming the 13th quarterback in the series to achieve the mark.
Yes,it was another Gator Bowl Classic, an event that is often overlooked as a subsidiary bowl on the overall 43-bowl calendar.
But for the people of Jacksonville, and the many fans who have made the trip into northwest Florida, it is a game that still holds a special place.
