College football teams from Florida will travel across the nations for the upcoming bowl season. The Florida Gators earned a bid to a New Year’s Six bowl while UCF, FSU, Miami, FAU and FIU also accepted bids for bowls this year.
Here are where the teams are headed for the 2019 college football bowl games.
Florida Gators
The Gators return to another New Year’s Six bowl after a 10-2 season. The Gators defeated both in-state rivals in the Florida State Seminoles (40-17) and the Miami Hurricanes (24-20). In conference play, the team had a difficult road playing at LSU, against Georgia in Jacksonville and at home against Auburn. Florida beat Auburn but lost to the other two teams and finished 2nd in the SEC East. The team powered through quarterback Felipe Franks going down and injuries flooding the defensive side of the ball. Head coach Dan Mullen is the first coach with two 10-win seasons in his first two seasons in school history. An 11-win season would be the seventh in program history.
The Gators will face off against Virginia in the Orange Bowl.
Central Florida Knights
UCF completed a third straight undefeated home season and finished 9-3. The Knights struggled on the road and lost to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Tulsa. The team lost by a combined seven points in those three games. True freshman quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for 3,393 yards and 27 touchdowns on the season and wide receiver Gabriel Davis ranks fifth nationally for receiving yards (1,241) and eighth in touchdowns (12). A bowl game would mark 41 wins in the last four years for the Knights.
The Knights will play Marshall in the Gasparilla Bowl.
Florida State Seminoles
Florida State mustered to a 6-6 finish with head coach woes and road struggles. Former head coach Willie Taggart was fired following a 27-10 loss to Miami and going 9-12 during his time at Florida State. Interim Head Coach Odell Haggins took charge and kept the Seminoles going. The team finished at .500 on the season. Florida State will aim to win its 27th bowl win since 1980.
The Seminoles will play against Arizona State in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl.
Miami Hurricanes
Miami wrapped up the season at 6-6. Despite key wins against Florida State, Pittsburgh, Louisville and a ranked Virginia team, the Hurricanes couldn’t keep the momentum going with losses to Georgia Tech, Duke and Florida International for the first time in program history. This is the seventh consecutive season the Hurricanes are bowl bound.
The Hurricanes are set to play Louisiana Tech in the Independence Bowl.
Florida Atlantic Owls
Florida Atlantic won Conference USA and finished 10-3 on the season. After losing to both Ohio State and UCF, the Owls dropped only one other game in the season. For the fifth time in program history, the Owls are bowl eligible.
The Owls will play Southern Methodist in the Boca Raton Bowl.
Florida International Panthers
Florida International went 6-6 on the season, but earned a win that might be bigger than all five of its other wins combined when it beat Miami at Marlins Park on Nov. 23 by a score of 30-24.
The Panthers will play Arkansas State in the Camelia Bowl on Dec. 21.