Pop-Tarts Bowl
| Cheez-It Bowl | |
|---|---|
| File:CheezIt Bowl Logo 4C.svg | |
| Stadium | Camping World Stadium |
| Location | Orlando, Florida |
| Previous stadiums | Joe Robbie Stadium (1990–2000) |
| Previous locations | Miami Gardens, Florida (1990–2000) |
| Operated | 1990–present |
| Conference tie-ins | ACC, Big 12 |
| Previous conference tie-ins | Big Ten, Big East |
| Payout | US$6,071,760 (2019)[1] |
| Sponsors | |
Blockbuster (1990–1993) Carquest (1994–1997) MicronPC (1998–2000) Florida Tourism (2001) Mazda (2002–2003) Champs Sports (2004–2011) Russell Athletic (2012–2016) Camping World (2017–present) | |
| Former names | |
Sunshine Classic (1990, working title) Blockbuster Bowl (1990–1993) Carquest Bowl (1994–1997) MicronPC Bowl (1998) MicronPC.com Bowl (1999–2000) Visit Florida Tangerine Bowl (2001) Mazda Tangerine Bowl (2002–2003) Champs Sports Bowl (2004–2011) Russell Athletic Bowl (2012–2016) | |
| 2018 matchup | |
| Syracuse vs. West Virginia (Syracuse 34–18) | |
| 2019 matchup | |
| Iowa State vs. Notre Dame (Notre Dame 33–9) | |
The Cheez-It Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that is played in Orlando, Florida, at Camping World Stadium. The bowl is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group which also organizes the Citrus Bowl and the Florida Classic. It was first played in 1990 in Miami Gardens, Florida, before moving to Orlando in 2001. Originally commissioned as the Sunshine Classic, it has undergone several name changes due to changes in sponsorship, which have included Blockbuster (1990–1993), Carquest (1994–1997), MicronPC (1998–2000), Florida Tourism (2001), Mazda (2002–2003), Champs Sports (2004–2011), Russell Athletic (2012–2016), Camping World (2017–2019) and Cheez-It (2020-present).
History
The bowl was founded in 1990 by Raycom[2] and was originally played at Joe Robbie Stadium outside the city of Miami. It was formed under the name Sunshine Football Classic, but due to corporate title sponsorships, was never actually contested under this name, nor even referred to as such except during brief intervals between corporate sponsors. During its Miami existence, it successively went by the names Blockbuster Bowl, CarQuest Bowl, and the MicronPC Bowl.
In 2001, the bowl changed hands, and was relocated to Orlando. The bowl briefly became known as the Tangerine Bowl, a historic moniker, which was the original title of the game now known as the Citrus Bowl. Foot Locker, the parent company of Champs Sports, purchased naming rights in 2004, naming it the Champs Sports Bowl. In early 2012, naming rights were agreed to by Russell Athletic for games through 2017.[3] In early 2017, Camping World signed an agreement to be the title sponsor of the game through 2019.[4][5] In spring of 2020, Cheez-It and Florida Citrus Sports announced that the snack had signed on as the new title sponsor of the game in a multi-year agreement.[6]
The game currently has tie-ins with the ACC and Big 12.[5]
Miami
What is now the Cheez-It Bowl was sprung from a desire to hold a second bowl game in the Miami area. It would be an accompaniment to the long-established and well-known Orange Bowl, and would showcase the brand new stadium in the area that was built in 1987. The Orange Bowl game was still being played in the aging old stadium, whereas this new game would be played in the new stadium.
Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga quickly joined forces with bowl organizers and brought in Blockbuster Video, which he owned at the time, as title sponsor.[2] The inaugural game, played on December 28, 1990, pitted Florida State and Penn State, and two legendary coaches, Bobby Bowden versus Joe Paterno in front of over 74,000 at Joe Robbie Stadium.[2] Subsequent games, however, never matched the success of the first, even though the bowl was moved to the more prestigious New Year's Day slot starting in 1993.
In 1994, CarQuest Auto Parts became the title sponsor after Huizenga sold Blockbuster Video to Viacom. The New Year's Day experiment was short lived as the organizers of the more established Orange Bowl received permission to move their game into Joe Robbie Stadium beginning in 1996.[2] That bumped the Carquest Bowl back to the less-desirable December date. After the 2000 playing, Florida Citrus Sports took over the game and moved it to Orlando.
Before gaining Blockbuster Entertainment as the corporate sponsor for the inaugural event, the game was tentatively referred to as the Sunshine Classic.[2]
Orlando
From 2006 to 2010, the bowl matched teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten Conference. Under the terms of a television deal signed with ESPN in 2006, the bowl was to be held after Christmas Day from 2006 onward, and be shown on ESPN in prime time. The change was made to move the game from the less-desirable pre-Christmas date utilized from 2001 to 2004.
From 2005 to 2009, the stadium faced challenges in preparing the stadium for two bowl games in less than one week (the Citrus Bowl is traditionally held New Year's Day). This was also in part due to the Florida high school football championship games being held at the stadium shortly before the bowls. In 2009, rainy weather turned the stadium's grass field into a muddly, sloppy, quagmire for both bowl games. In 2010, the stadium switched to artificial turf, facilitating the quick turnaround necessary.
In 2009, the Champs Sports Bowl announced that the Big East was to be one of the tie-in conferences for four years starting in 2010, and continued after the conference was renamed the American Athletic Conference following the 2013 reorganization. They were also to have the option of selecting Notre Dame once out of the four years (which they did in 2011). On October 7, 2009, the Champs Sports Bowl announced that they had extended their agreement with the Atlantic Coast Conference for the same term. The game was to match the third pick from the ACC against the second selection from the Big East. The previous agreement matched the 4th pick from the ACC against the 4th or 5th pick from the Big Ten.[7] The University of Notre Dame, representing the Big East (as permitted in the agreement with the conference) and Florida State University from the ACC played in the 2011 bowl.
Since 2014, the game features the second pick from the ACC after the New Year's Six bowls make their picks—usually the conference championship game loser or one of the division runners-up—against the third pick from the Big 12.
Game results
All rankings are taken from the AP Poll prior to the game being played.
| No. | Date | Bowl Name | Winning Team | Losing Team | Attnd.[8] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | December 28, 1990 | Blockbuster Bowl | No. 6 Florida State | 24 | No. 7 Penn State | 17 | 74,021 |
| 2 | December 28, 1991 | Blockbuster Bowl | No. 8 Alabama | 30 | No. 15 Colorado | 25 | 46,123 |
| 3 | January 1, 1993 | Blockbuster Bowl | No. 13 Stanford | 24 | No. 21 Penn State | 3 | 45,554 |
| 4 | January 1, 1994 | Carquest Bowl | No. 15 Boston College | 31 | Virginia | 13 | 38,516 |
| 5 | January 2, 1995 | Carquest Bowl | South Carolina | 24 | West Virginia | 21 | 50,853 |
| 6 | December 30, 1995 | Carquest Bowl | North Carolina | 20 | No. 24 Arkansas | 10 | 34,428 |
| 7 | December 27, 1996 | Carquest Bowl | No. 19 Miami | 31 | Virginia | 21 | 46,418 |
| 8 | December 29, 1997 | Carquest Bowl | Georgia Tech | 35 | West Virginia | 30 | 28,262 |
| 9 | December 29, 1998 | MicronPC Bowl | No. 24 Miami | 46 | NC State | 23 | 44,387 |
| 10 | December 30, 1999 | MicronPC.com Bowl | Illinois | 63 | Virginia | 21 | 31,089 |
| 11 | December 28, 2000 | MicronPC.com Bowl | NC State | 38 | Minnesota | 30 | 28,359 |
| 12 | December 20, 2001 | Tangerine Bowl | Pittsburgh | 34 | NC State | 19 | 28,562 |
| 13 | December 23, 2002 | Tangerine Bowl | Texas Tech | 55 | Clemson | 15 | 21,689 |
| 14 | December 22, 2003 | Tangerine Bowl | NC State | 56 | Kansas | 26 | 26,482 |
| 15 | December 21, 2004 | Champs Sports Bowl | Georgia Tech | 51 | Syracuse | 14 | 28,237 |
| 16 | December 27, 2005 | Champs Sports Bowl | No. 23 Clemson | 19 | Colorado | 10 | 31,470 |
| 17 | December 29, 2006 | Champs Sports Bowl | Maryland | 24 | Purdue | 7 | 40,168 |
| 18 | December 28, 2007 | Champs Sports Bowl | No. 14 Boston College | 24 | Michigan State | 21 | 46,554 |
| 19 | December 27, 2008 | Champs Sports Bowl | Florida State | 42 | Wisconsin | 13 | 52,692 |
| 20 | December 29, 2009 | Champs Sports Bowl | No. 24 Wisconsin | 20 | No. 14 Miami | 14 | 56,747 |
| 21 | December 28, 2010 | Champs Sports Bowl | NC State | 23 | No. 22 West Virginia | 7 | 48,962 |
| 22 | December 29, 2011 | Champs Sports Bowl | No. 25 Florida State | 18 | Notre Dame | 14 | 68,305 |
| 23 | December 28, 2012 | Russell Athletic Bowl | Virginia Tech | 13 | Rutgers | 10 (OT) | 48,129 |
| 24 | December 28, 2013 | Russell Athletic Bowl | No. 18 Louisville | 36 | Miami | 9 | 51,098 |
| 25 | December 29, 2014 | Russell Athletic Bowl | No. 18 Clemson | 40 | Oklahoma | 6 | 40,071 |
| 26 | December 29, 2015 | Russell Athletic Bowl | No. 18 Baylor | 49 | No. 10 North Carolina | 38 | 40,418 |
| 27 | December 28, 2016 | Russell Athletic Bowl | Miami | 31 | No. 14 West Virginia | 14 | 48,625 |
| 28 | December 28, 2017 | Camping World Bowl | No. 17 Oklahoma State | 30 | No. 22 Virginia Tech | 21 | 39,610 |
| 29 | December 28, 2018 | Camping World Bowl | No. 17 Syracuse | 34 | No. 15 West Virginia | 18 | 41,125 |
| 30 | December 28, 2019 | Camping World Bowl | No. 14 Notre Dame | 33 | Iowa State | 9 | 46,948 |
Games 1–11 played in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Games 12–present played in Orlando, Florida.
MVPs
| Date | MVP | School | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 28, 1990 | Amp Lee | Florida State | RB |
| December 28, 1991 | David Palmer | Alabama | WR |
| January 1, 1993 | Darrien Gordon | Stanford | CB |
| January 1, 1994 | Glenn Foley | Boston College | QB |
| January 2, 1995 | Steve Taneyhill | South Carolina | QB |
| December 30, 1995 | Leon Johnson | North Carolina | RB |
| December 27, 1996 | Tremain Mack | Miami | SS |
| December 29, 1997 | Joe Hamilton | Georgia Tech | QB |
| December 29, 1998 | Scott Covington | Miami | QB |
| December 30, 1999 | Kurt Kittner | Illinois | QB |
| December 28, 2000 | Philip Rivers | NC State | QB |
| December 20, 2001 | Antonio Bryant | Pittsburgh | WR |
| December 23, 2002 | Kliff Kingsbury | Texas Tech | QB |
| December 22, 2003 | Philip Rivers | NC State | QB |
| December 21, 2004 | Reggie Ball | Georgia Tech | QB |
| December 27, 2005 | James Davis | Clemson | RB |
| December 29, 2006 | Sam Hollenbach | Maryland | QB |
| December 28, 2007 | Jamie Silva | Boston College | FS |
| December 27, 2008 | Graham Gano | Florida State | K/P |
| December 29, 2009 | John Clay | Wisconsin | RB |
| December 28, 2010 | Russell Wilson | NC State | QB |
| December 29, 2011 | Rashad Greene | Florida State | WR |
| December 28, 2012 | Antone Exum | Virginia Tech | CB |
| December 28, 2013 | Teddy Bridgewater | Louisville | QB |
| December 29, 2014 | Cole Stoudt | Clemson | QB |
| December 29, 2015 | Johnny Jefferson | Baylor | RB |
| December 28, 2016 | Brad Kaaya | Miami | QB |
| December 28, 2017 | Mason Rudolph | Oklahoma State | QB |
| December 28, 2018 | Eric Dungey | Syracuse | QB |
| December 28, 2019 | Chase Claypool | Notre Dame | WR |
Most appearances
Updated through the December 2019 edition (30 games, 60 total appearances).
- Teams with multiple appearances
| Rank | Team | Appearances | Record | Win pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | NC State | 5 | 3–2 | .600 |
| T1 | Miami | 5 | 3–2 | .600 |
| T1 | West Virginia | 5 | 0–5 | .000 |
| T4 | Florida State | 3 | 3–0 | 1.000 |
| T4 | Clemson | 3 | 2–1 | .667 |
| T4 | Virginia | 3 | 0–3 | .000 |
| T7 | Boston College | 2 | 2–0 | 1.000 |
| T7 | Georgia Tech | 2 | 2–0 | 1.000 |
| T7 | North Carolina | 2 | 1–1 | .500 |
| T7 | Notre Dame | 2 | 1–1 | .500 |
| T7 | Syracuse | 2 | 1–1 | .500 |
| T7 | Virginia Tech | 2 | 1–1 | .500 |
| T7 | Wisconsin | 2 | 1–1 | .500 |
| T7 | Colorado | 2 | 0–2 | .000 |
| T7 | Penn State | 2 | 0–2 | .000 |
- Teams with a single appearance
Won: Alabama, Baylor, Illinois, Louisville, Maryland, Oklahoma State, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Stanford, Texas Tech
Lost: Arkansas, Iowa State, Kansas, Michigan State, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Purdue, Rutgers
Appearances by conference
Updated through the December 2019 edition (30 games, 60 total appearances).
| Conference | Record | Appearances by season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Games | W | L | Win pct. | Won | Lost | |
| ACC | 25 | 15 | 10 | .600 | 1995, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 | 1993*, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017 |
| The American | 10 | 5 | 5 | .500 | 1993*, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2013 | 1994*, 1997, 2004, 2010, 2012 |
| Big 12 | 9 | 3 | 6 | .333 | 2002, 2015, 2017 | 2003, 2005, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 |
| Big Ten | 6 | 2 | 4 | .333 | 1999, 2009 | 2000, 2006, 2007, 2008 |
| Independents | 5 | 2 | 3 | .400 | 1990, 2019 | 1990, 1992*, 2011 |
| SEC | 3 | 2 | 1 | .667 | 1991, 1994* | 1995 |
| Pac-10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1992* | |
| Big Eight | 1 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 1991 | |
- Games marked with an asterisk (*) were played in January of the following calendar year.
- The American record includes appearances of the Big East Conference, as The American retains the charter of the original Big East, following its 2013 realignment. Teams representing the Big East appeared in nine games, compiling a 4–5 record.
- The Big Eight Conference dissolved after the 1995 season.
- Independents: Penn State (1990, 1992), Florida State (1990), Notre Dame (2011, 2019)
Game records
| Team | Record, Team vs. Opponent | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Most points scored (one team) | 63, Illinois vs. Virginia | 1999 |
| Most points scored (both teams) | 87, Baylor vs. North Carolina | 2015 |
| Most points scored (losing team) | 38, North Carolina vs. Baylor | 2015 |
| Fewest points allowed | 3, Stanford vs. Penn State | 1993 (Jan.) |
| Largest margin of victory | 42, Illinois vs. Virginia | 1999 |
| Total yards | ||
| Rushing yards | ||
| Passing yards | ||
| First downs | ||
| Fewest yards allowed | ||
| Fewest rushing yards allowed | ||
| Fewest passing yards allowed | ||
| Individual | Record, Player, Team vs. Opponent | Year |
| All-purpose yards | ||
| Touchdowns (all-purpose) | ||
| Rushing yards | ||
| Rushing touchdowns | ||
| Passing yards | ||
| Passing touchdowns | ||
| Receiving yards | ||
| Receiving touchdowns | ||
| Tackles | ||
| Sacks | ||
| Interceptions | ||
| Long Plays | Record, Player, Team vs. Opponent | Year |
| Touchdown run | ||
| Touchdown pass | ||
| Kickoff return | ||
| Punt return | ||
| Interception return | ||
| Fumble return | ||
| Punt | ||
| Field goal | ||
| Miscellaneous | Record, Teams | Year |
| Largest attendance | 74,021, Florida State vs. Penn State | 1990 |
Source:
Media coverage
The bowl was televised by Raycom in its inaugural year, followed by CBS Sports (four editions), TBS (six editions), and ESPN since 2001.
References
- ^ "2019 Bowl Schedule". collegefootballpoll.com. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e "The Making of a Blockbuster: How Wayne Huizenga Built a Sports and Entertainment Empire from Trash, Grit, and Videotape". Wiley. 1997. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
- ^ "Russell Athletic Bowl History". RussellAthleticBowl.com. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
- ^ "CAMPING WORLD SIGNS ON AS TITLE SPONSOR OF ORLANDO BOWL". campingworldbowl.com. April 11, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
- ^ a b "About". campingworldbowl.com. 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017.
- ^ "Cheez-It® Heads To Orlando To Join Florida Citrus Sports Beginning With 2020 Season". cheezitbowl.com. May 27, 2020. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Adelson, Andrea (October 7, 2009). "College football: ACC improves deal with Champs Sports Bowl; will send No. 3 team to Orlando beginning in 2010". OrlandoSentinel.com. Archived from the original on October 9, 2009 – via Wayback Machine.
- ^ "History". campingworldbowl.com. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
Further reading
- DeGeorge, Gail (1995). The Making of a Blockbuster: How Wayne Huizenga Built a Sports and Entertainment Empire from Trash, Grit and Videotape. John Wiley & Sons. ASIN B013ILGKYW.