1982 Gator Bowl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 1982 Gator Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38th Gator Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| Date | December 30, 1982 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1982 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Gator Bowl Stadium | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Jacksonville, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | TB Greg Allen (Florida State) K Paul Woodside (West Virginia) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Robert Aillet (SEC) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 80,913 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ABC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Al Michaels Lee Grosscup Anne Simon | ||||||||||||||||||||
The 1982 Gator Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 30, 1982, at Gator Bowl Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida. The game pitted the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Florida State Seminoles.
West Virginia won their first three games (including a win against #9 Oklahoma) to be ranked at #14 heading into their rivalry game against #2 Pittsburgh. A close 16–13 loss made them fall to #16, but they rebounded with two straight victories to get to #13 heading into a home game versus #9 Penn State. A 24–0 loss to the eventual champion was their last loss of the regular season as they won the next four straight games to be invited to their second straight bowl game.
Florida State won seven straight games after starting the season 1–1 (with a loss to #2 Pittsburgh), rising to #7 heading into a non-conference matchup with #12 Louisiana State University. A 55–21 loss made them fall out of the polls, and they finished the season with a 13–10 loss to Florida. However, they were invited to the Gator Bowl, their first invite since 1967.
