Warchant.com - FSU likely Champs Bowl bound

December 2, 2008

Gene Williams
Warchant.com Publisher

Just 24 hours ago it looked like Florida State was headed back to Jacksonville for another Gator Bowl. But those plans were apparently derailed following a Gator Bowl Committee meeting on Monday night.

According to TigerIllustrated.com in the Rivals.com Network, Clemson will be invited to the First Coast and will take on Nebraska of the Big 12 Conference. That would likely drop FSU down to the December 27th Champs Bowl in Orlando. The most likely opponent would be Wisconsin or Minnesota of the Big 10 Conference.

It's too early to make travel plans to Orlando but the early indications are that the Champs Bowl would be happy to have FSU as a participant.

"Obviously we'd love to have them," Greg Creese, Director of Communications with Florida Citrus Sports said of Florida State. "Florida did very well in the Capital One Bowl for us last year and with people's travel dollars a little tighter than normal this might work out very nice for us. Either way, Florida State has had a good year this year and it looks like they are making their way back as a national contender. We would love to have a team of that caliber."

While everything seems to be falling into place, it's unlikely that the Champs Bowl will make an official announcement until Sunday.

In addition to losing the prestige of not playing in a New Year's bowl game, there is a slight difference in the payouts of the two bowls. The Gator Bowl's last reported payout was $2,500,000, while the Champs Bowl is slightly less at $2,250,000. The Champs Bowl is played on December 27th with a 4:30 p.m. kickoff. The game will be broadcast by ESPN.

Gene Williams is the founder and administrator of Warchant.com and writes stories and features covering all of FSU's sports with an emphasis on football and football recruiting. For seven years, Williams hosted a weekly sports radio show in Tallahassee. He currently appears as a weekly guest on 1010 XL Sports Radio in Jacksonville and 1270 The Team in Tallahassee during football season. Williams is also a former ACC correspondent for College Football News (weekly national newspaper), and contributes to The Osceola. Story about Gene Williams & Warchant.com.