 This season though, the Gator Bowl will feature a team from the ACC and a team from the Big East. The Florida State Seminoles will play the West Virginia Mountaineers on January 1, 2010. The Florida State Seminoles finished the season unranked with a 6-6 record. The season was such a let down that the legendary Bobby Bowden decided this would be his last year at FSU. The Seminoles began the years 2-4 and had to battle back to be considered for this game. The passing game drove the team's offense. Starting quarterback Christian Ponder averaged over 300 yards passing in the nine games in which he played. He completed a very impressive 68.8 percent of his passes and threw 14 touchdown passes. The team tended to finish drives running the ball. The Seminoles scored 24 rushing touchdowns while averaging 143.2 yards a game. The defense was the real problem for FSU. The team gave up 40 or more points five times over the 12-game college football schedule. The West Virginia Mountaineers enter the Gator Bowl as the 16th ranked team according to the BCS standings and the number two team in the Big East. The 9-3 Mountaineers ran over opposing teams, picking up 183.5 yards a game and scoring 26 rushing touchdowns over the season. Noel Devine is the feature back for this West Virginia team. He ran the ball 225 times for 1,297 yards and 12 touchdowns over the course of the 2009 college football season. Quarterback Jarrett Brown doubled as a running back, running for 423 yards and five touchdowns to go with his 2,129 passing yards. He is not a traditional pocket quarterback by any means, throwing 11 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. This year's game should draw a huge audience just because of it being Bowden's last game at FSU. However, the game could be a high scoring affair with a West Virginia team that might be able to run threw a Swiss cheese defense and a Seminoles offense that can put points in a hurry just about any way they want to once they get going. Get your Konica Minolta Gator Bowl tickets through OnlineSeats for the best seats at Jackson Municipal Stadium for this year's New Year's Day bowl game.
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