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2008 Gator Bowl

Field	Value
year_game_played	2008
title_sponsor	Konica Minolta
game_name	Gator Bowl
subheader	63rd Gator Bowl
caption	Gator Bowl logo
football_season	2007
visitor_name_short	Texas Tech
visitor_nickname	Red Raiders
visitor_school	Texas Tech University
home_name_short	Virginia
home_nickname	Cavaliers
home_school	University of Virginia
visitor_record	8–4
visitor_conference	Big 12
home_record	9–3
home_conference	ACC
visitor_coach	Mike Leach
home_coach	Al Groh
home_rank_AP	21
home_rank_coaches	20
home_rank_BCS	20
visitor_1q	7
visitor_2q	0
visitor_3q	7
visitor_4q	17
home_1q	9
home_2q	12
home_3q	0
home_4q	7
date_game_played	January 1
stadium	Jacksonville Municipal Stadium
city	Jacksonville, Florida
MVP	Graham Harrell (QB, Texas Tech) & Mikell Simpson (RB, Virginia)The bowl's official website lists DE Chris Long as Virginia's MVP.
odds	Texas Tech by 5½
referee	John O'Neill (Big Ten)
attendance	60,243
payout	2.5 million per team
us_network	CBS
us_announcers_link	List of announcers of major college bowl games
us_announcers	Verne Lundquist, Gary Danielson, and Tracy Wolfson

The 2008 Gator Bowl was played on January 1, 2008, as part of the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It featured the Red Raiders of Texas Tech University, who finished third in the Big 12 Conference's South Division, and the Cavaliers of the University of Virginia, who finished second in the Atlantic Coast Conference's Coastal Division. Texas Tech won the game on a last-second field goal, securing a 31–28 victory.

It was one of 32 games in the 2007–08 bowl season. The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. It is one of the oldest college bowls, held continuously since 1946. This edition's full name was the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl after its sponsor, Konica Minolta.

Overview

The Gator Bowl has tie-ins from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Big 12 Conference, and Big East Conferences, as well as independent Notre Dame. They have the right to the third pick of a team from the ACC, and have the option to offer the other spot to the second pick from the Big East, the fourth pick from the Big 12, or Notre Dame. The 2008 game featured the ACC's Virginia Cavaliers, who finished the 2007 season with an overall record of 9–3 (6–2 in the ACC) playing the Big 12's Texas Tech Red Raiders, who finished the 2007 season with an overall record of 8–4 (4–4 in the Big 12). The game was the eighth straight post season appearance for the Red Raiders. Virginia returned to a bowl game after failing to qualify for one following the 2006 season.

Recap

After Texas Tech jumped out to an early 7–0 lead, scoring on their second drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Graham Harrell to Detron Lewis, Virginia reeled off 21 straight points, including two safeties where Harrell was called for intentional grounding in the endzone. Virginia tailback Mikell Simpson scored on a 96-yard run, an NCAA bowl record for a running back.

Virginia carried a 21–7 lead into the locker room at halftime and seemed to be in control after Simpson hauled in an 11-yard pass from quarterback Peter Lalich with 11:26 left in the game to make the score 28–14.

With 7:54 left in the game, Texas Tech turned the ball over on downs just outside Virginia's goal line. The Cavaliers were unable to pick up a first down and, following a punt, the Red Raiders took over at midfield trailing by 14 with 5:32 left. Harrell engineered an efficient drive completing five of his eight passes on the drive, including a 20-yard fade to Michael Crabtree for a touchdown to make it 28–21 with 3:31 left on the clock.

On Virginia's ensuing drive, Lalich was sacked and fumbled the football, setting up a one-play drive for Texas Tech – a four-yard touchdown run for Aaron Crawford.

Virginia was again unable to pick up a first down and Texas Tech drove to the UVA 24 yard line and Alex Trlica kicked the winning 41-yard field goal with two seconds left. The final score was Texas Tech 31, Virginia 28.

Notes

References

"2007".
"Mikell Simpson".
Fox, David. (2007-12-13). "Rivals.com Bowl Viewer's Guide". Rivals.com.
Doughty, Doug. (2008-01-03). "Stadium barely half full at Gator Bowl". The Roanoke Times.
"ncaafootball.com - Bowl Schedules/Results".
[http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/093007/col_204090013.shtml Gator Bowl lands new deal for title sponsor]
(2008-01-01). "ESPN Gator Bowl Game Recap". ESPN.com.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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