1999 Orange Bowl
| 1999 FedEx Orange Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| BCS Bowl Game 65th Orange Bowl |
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| Date | January 2, 1999 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 1998 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Miami Orange Bowl | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Miami, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Florida WR Travis Taylor | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 67,919[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ABC | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Brad Nessler and Gary Danielson | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 8.4[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
The 1999 Orange Bowl a 1998-1999 BCS game was played on January 2, 1999. This 65th edition of the Orange Bowl (the last one ever played at the Miami Orange Bowl) featured the Syracuse Orange, and the Florida Gators. Florida came into the game with a 9-2 record, whereas Syracuse was 8-3. Consequently, the Florida Gators were favorites playing in front of their home state.
Florida came out of the gates swinging, with quarterback Doug Johnson throwing two touchdown passes to wide receiver Travis Taylor creating a 14-0 Florida lead. Syracuse got on the scoreboard in the second quarter following a field goal to close the gap to 14-3. Florida added two more touchdowns before the half to widen the gap to 28-3.
Florida continued to dominate the game, before giving up a 62 yard touchdown from quarterback Donovan McNabb to wide receiver Maurice Jackson, with only 3 minutes left in the game. Florida then ran out the clock to finish the game. Florida, whose only two losses came against top 2 opponents, cranked out over 400 yards of total offense. Travis Taylor was named MVP, after catching 7 passes for 159 yards and two touchdowns. Running back Terry Jackson rushed for 108 yards on 21 carries.
This Orange Bowl was played at the Miami Orange Bowl because the Pro Player Stadium (Sun Life Stadium) was being used for an NFL wild card playoff game; coincidentally, both the NFL game and the Orange Bowl were aired on the same network, ABC.
Aftermath
The 1999 Orange Bowl victory clinched Florida's sixth consecutive 10-win season. They finished the season 10-2, and ranked in the final Top 5.
