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The No. 9 Florida Gators may have been just outside the College Football Playoff field, but that does not change what head coach Dan Mullen’s team accomplished. At 10-2 with its lone losses coming to two of the top five teams in the nation (No. 1 LSU, No. 5 Georgia), the Gators will still be headed to a major bowl game.
It was revealed Sunday that Florida will head to the 2019 Orange Bowl where it will face ACC runner-up No. 24 Virginia (9-4). The Gators and Cavaliers will meet for just the second time in program history. UF won the teams’ first meeting 55-10 in 1959.
This marks Florida’s fourth appearance in the Orange Bowl and first since it routed Maryland 56-23 in 2002 game after the 2001 season. The Gators have won Orange Bowls by an average of 23.0 points.
The Orange Bowl now takes place in Hard Rock Stadium, the same venue that hosted the 2009 BCS Championship Game in which Florida beat Oklahoma 24-14 to win its third national title. UF is 2-1 all-time in the stadium, losing a road game to Miami in 2013.