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| Gator Bowl |
January 1, 2001
12:30 PM on NBC
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| Michael Vick Website |
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| The Conference |
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Virginia Tech Will Play in Gator Bowl
Virginia Tech will face Clemson on Jan. 1, 2001
Virginia Tech has announced that they have accepted a bid to play in the Toyota Gator Bowl. The Hokies are playing Clemson on Jan. 1, 2001 at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville. The game starts at 12:30 p.m. on NBC.
"We're really excited about our opportunity to go to the Gator Bowl and play a really good Clemson football team," said Frank Beamer. "I'm proud of the fact that there are only six other teams who have gone to eight straight bowls and I'm proud of the fact that it's a New Year's Day bowl. This is a chance for us to be a top five team and that would be quite an accomplishment for this team considering all of the injuries we've had this year."
Virginia Tech finished the season 10-1 and Clemson finished 9-2. The Hokies and the Tigers played a year ago at Blacksburg with the Hokies winning, 31-11. This will be the 28th meeting between the two schools. Clemson leads the series, 17-9-1. It was a good matchup between the two teams, Clemson threatened Tech's undefeated season for a while in the game, but the defense took control and lead the team to victory.
This is the third trip for the Hokies to the Gator Bowl. Tech is 0-2 in the Gator Bowl. They lost to Tennessee, 45-23, in the 1994 Gator Bowl. The Hokies also lost to North Carolina, 42-3, in the Gator Bowl following the 1998 Gator Bowl. Hopefully this year will be a different story for Virginia Tech.
"We're very proud to be playing in the Gator Bowl," said Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick. "They wanted us and we're glad to get the invite. It's going to be a great game between two great teams and we're looking to put on a great show."
It will be a good show, but Tech will get the best of Clemson because they really should be in a BCS bowl considering that Notre Dame and Oregon State both finished behind Virginia Tech at 11th and 6th, while the Hokies finished 5th in the BCS ratings. Politics are politics, but Tech was jipped!
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