College football bowl game held annually on
New Year's Day in
Jacksonville,
FL. Sponsored by
Toyota.
The Gator Bowl was originally named after its host stadium; the stadium changed its name to ALLTEL Stadium after renovations in 1993-94, but the game kept its name. While the stadium was undergoing renovations, the game was played at Ben Hill Stadium/Florida Field at University of Florida in Gainesville.
The Gator currently has an agreement to match up the ACC's number two team against the Big East's number two team (or Notre Dame in certain situations, due to a BE/ND agreement). These two conferences get very little respect despite having some excellent football programs, which has led to some Bowl Championship Series-worthy, national top 5 teams dropping to the Gator, notably North Carolina in 1998 and Virginia Tech in 2001.