Plenty of Good Seats Were Available

Too many bowl games? Check out Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 77,000 and played host to the Gator Bowl between Texas Tech and Virginia. Attendance was announced at 60,128. As for actual fans in the stands, it was more along the lines of 40,000 according to reader Greg, who sent along photographic evidence.More bad news for the Gator Bowl. It got an overnight TV rating of 2.7 on CBS. That barely beat the 2.6 the NHL Winter Classic — the outdoor game between Pittsburgh and Buffalo — got on NBC.

As for the Gator, Virginia had leads of 21-7 and 28-14, lifting the spirits of a young Cavalier fan. But that didn't last and the Red Raiders rallied for a 31-28 victory.

Texas Tech is no stranger to comebacks. At the 2006 Insight Bowl, the Red Raiders stormed back from a 31-point deficit in the third quarter and defeated Minnesota, 44-41, in overtime.

Days later, Glen Mason was fired as Golden Gopher coach and Tim Brewster was brought in to clean up the mess. Brewster, of course, has dug an even bigger hole for the Gophers, who finished 1-11 in his first season. Good luck with that one, Minnesota.
Back to the Gator. ... With what amounted to concert seating, Greg was able to make his way around the stadium and even get close to the action. And, we might remind you, he did all of this hours after attending the Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta. But when you love college football and are faced with the prospect of no games for 200-some days and something called baseball in between, you need to get every fix you can get.
Candidate for stupidest sign at a bowl game. Who cares what Virginia defensive end Chris Long watches? He might be checking out Tera Patrick for all we know. What matters is that the kid can play.
That's the Virginia mascot on the left and somebody who wants to be the Texas Tech mascot on the right. Since the 1940s, the Cavaliers have been affectionately called the "Wahoos" by their fans, which has been shortened in recent years to "Hoos."