ESPN College Football

Thankfully, we won't see this or this ever again.

Although the 2010 Muck Bowl, er, Capital One Bowl, went in Penn State's favor Jan. 1 in Orlando, the game gained notoriety for the appallingly poor field conditions at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. The aesthetic component really matters to bowl games; they're supposed to look good on TV, and this one didn't.

Needless to say, Wednesday's announcement that a new playing surface will be installed at Citrus Bowl Stadium was welcome news. Installation of an AstroTurf field will begin immediately and is scheduled to be completed by September.

“Hosting a large number of events in short time windows have challenged the ability to provide optimum field conditions and paint schemes needed for national television," Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan said in a prepared statement. "With this improvement, we are very excited about our ability to provide one of the safest, most technologically-advanced playing surfaces in the industry to our customer.”

The Big Ten's new bowl lineup includes only one game, the Capital One Bowl, at Citrus Bowl Stadium. The league previously had participated in the Champs Sports Bowl there.

"This new AstroTurf field is part of the city of Orlando’s $10 million investment in phase one improvements this year at the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium,” Orlando Venues executive director Allen Johnson said in a prepared statement.

I got a bit concerned when I saw the word AstroTurf, remembering the rock-hard, ligament-busting fields at places like Veterans Stadium and the Metrodome. But the selected surface is an advanced product with a cool-sounding name (GameDay Grass 3D) that performs a lot like natural grass.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany and others had voiced concerns about Citrus Bowl Stadium and its viability to host a premier event like the Capital One Bowl. Let's face it: after the BCS games, the Capital One Bowl is about as good as it gets.

Now the bowl can look the part.

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

The Capital One Bowl took a little longer than expected to finalize its selections, but as expected, Michigan State will head to Orlando to face Georgia on Jan. 1 at Citrus Bowl Stadium.

The Spartans (9-3) finished in third place in the Big Ten and will make their first January bowl appearance since the 2000 Citrus Bowl. The bowl matchup will feature two of the nation's top running backs in Michigan State's Javon Ringer and Georgia's Knowshon Moreno.

Here are some quotes about Michigan State's bowl announcement.

Florida Citrus Sports executive director Steve Hogan -- "This will be a showcase for two of the best running backs in the country, in Michigan State's Javon Ringer and Georgia's Knowshon Moreno. Both Michigan State and Georgia have something to prove at 9-3, and conference bragging rights are on the line with the Big Ten winning the bowl's last four games to bring the head-to-head record to 8-8 over the last 16 years."

Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio -- "We're building a foundation here and last year, we took the first step with a bowl appearance in the Champs Sports Bowl. We said the next step in the building process was earning a bid to a New Year's Day bowl. Some may have scoffed at that notion, but our players worked extremely hard and made that goal a reality. This team found a way to win close ballgames and put itself in a position to compete for a share of the Big Ten championship in the final week. We're looking forward to going down to Orlando to represent the Big Ten with the intent to earn back some respect. We'll be motivated to play an extremely talented and explosive Georgia football team."