outback bowl history
outback bowl history
Already Outback Bowl tickets are selling out of ticket offices. Always an action-packed game, the Outback Bowl is played every year on New Year’s Day in Tampa Stadium. Each year, two college football teams have the honor of competing in the new year’s first sporting event in front of a filled stadium.
Before it became the Outback Bowl, this intense game was known as the Hall of Fame Bowl. The game matches up the third pick college football team from both the SEC with another from the Big Ten Conference. After a week long series of events, including Players’ Night at Gameworks, Outback Bowl Beach Day, and fireworks during Light Up Tampa Bay, the game commences on January 1st of every year. In addition, the day of them game itself is lined up with things to do before the game even begins. Between brunch and entertainment at Mercedes Benz Corporate Tent Village, the Pregame Bowl Bash, and the DeBartolo Pregame Show, Tampa Bay is like one big New Year’s Day Party all day long. Not only is the Outback Bowl the first sporting event each year, in 2000 it was also marked as the first sporting event of the new millennium.
The 2005 Outback Bowl saw the end of an era. The game marked the last victory for the winningest quarterback in NCAA history, David Greene. The Georgia Bulldogs, who finished the game at number eight in the standings, closed out Greene’s last game with a 24-21 win over number sixteen ranked Wisconsin Badgers. That day, Greene threw for 264 yards and two touchdowns in his last game as a Bulldog. Not only did the victory that day give Greene his last victory as a college ball player, it also gave Georgia at least ten wins for three straight seasons. The incredibly back-and-forth game looked like it could go either way when a nineteen yard pass to Darrin Charles in the second half brought the game to a score of 24-13. However, a missed field goal and a fumble saw the end of hope for the Badgers and the Bulldogs took home the win.
Last year marked the twentieth year the Bowl had taken place in Tampa Stadium. The game, which was played between the Florida Gators and the Iowa Hawkeyes, ended with a score of 31-24 in favor of the Gators. Named MVP of the Bowl was wide receiver Dallas Baker. That night, Baker scored on receptions of 24 and 38 yards and finished with ten catches for 147 yards. However, Baker wasn’t the only one excelling on the field. Chris Leak also kept Florida’s offense on target, throwing for 277 yards and completing two touchdown passes in the 2006 game alone. As if the victory alone wasn’t enough, the win also gave the Gators a season record of 9-3, lifting coach Urban Meyer to match Ray Graves (Florida coach in 1960) and Steven Spurrier (Florida coach in 1990) for most victories for a coach in his first season at Florida.
With fan favorites and great match-ups, it’s no wonder box offices can barely keep Outback Bowl tickets on the shelves. If there’s one place any die hard football fan wants to be on New Year’s Day, it’s sitting in a stadium in Tampa watching one of the most exciting events of the season.
