Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl

The Gator Bowl is a college football postseason game played at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Fla., each year. First contested in 1946, the Gator Bowl now matches up bowl-eligible teams from the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences. Florida won the 2012 Gator Bowl, defeating Ohio State, 24-17.

The inaugural Gator Bowl was played on Jan. 1, 1946, when Wake Forest defeated South Carolina, 26-14, at Fairfield Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The stadium was renamed the Gator Bowl two years later, when its seating capacity was increased, and by the 1949 game capacity had reached over 35,000 seats.

In the game's early years, a team from the Southern Conference played against an at-large opponent. In 1953, the Gator Bowl began featuring Southeastern Conference schools, with Auburn appearing three straight years and winning over Baylor in 1954, when the game was moved to December.

In-state schools fared successfully throughout the 1960s at the Gator Bowl, as the University of Florida won the game three times while Florida State claimed two victories in the postseason affair in Jacksonville during the decade.

While the Gator Bowl's association with SEC teams began to fade in the mid-1970s, the annual game in Jacksonville continued to feature teams from the southern part of the country against schools from outside the region. One of the bowl's most memorable moments during that decade came late in the 1978 matchup between Ohio State and Clemson. Legendary Buckeye head coach Woody Hayes threw a punch at Clemson player Charlie Bauman after the defender had run out of bounds after intercepting an Ohio State pass. The interception had helped seal Clemson's 17-15 win, while the incident would seal the fate of Hayes, who was fired the next day.

Clemson went on to play in five Gator Bowls between 1977 and 1996 (winning three times), as teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference appeared in 12 of the matchups in that 20-year period.

A new venue, Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, built on the same site as the Gator Bowl stadium, was completed by 1995's college football season and hosted the game for the first time that season, when it was moved back to being a New Year's Day game.

Other changes came that same year, with the Gator Bowl inviting the second-place teams from the ACC and Big East conferences as part of an agreement that would last for 10 years. North Carolina won back-to-back years during that stretch (1997 and 1998), while West Virigina and Virginia tech made three appearances each at the Gator Bowl during that time.

Conference affiliations were modified again prior the 2007 contest, as a new arrangement would see the Gator Bowl host a representative from the ACC against a bowl-eligible team from either the Big East, Big 12 or Notre Dame. That setup would only last for four years, as another restructuring among various bowls prior to 2010 college season included the Gator Bowl, which agreed to host bowl-eligible teams from the Big Ten and SEC conferences for the upcoming seasons.

Jacksonville Municipal Stadium was renamed EverBank Field in 2010, and the venue hosted Mississippi State's win in the 2011 game for the first time with the new name.