The 2000 Gator Bowl featured the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. The teams have also been nicknamed the Rambl ...

and the Miami Hurricanes.

Background

The Jackets had at one point been ranked as high as 7th in the polls before two losses had made them fall to 17th. They finished 2nd in the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

. This was their third consecutive bowl season. The Hurricanes finished 2nd in the Big East Conference with a loss to Virginia Tech late in the season costing them a share of the title. But Miami was making their third bowl appearance under Davis, who was hired to help rebuild the program after a scandal that rocked the school in 1995.

Game summary

Tech had multiple opportunities to score, but two interceptions and two missed field goals doomed the Jackets in their first bowl loss since 1978. Miami scored the first 14 points of the game on a James Jackson rushing touchdown and an

Andre King Andre Omar King (born November 26, 1973) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League. He played for the Cleveland Browns from 2001 to 2004. He went to the University of Miami for college. He also played baseball in ...

touchdown catch from

Kenny Kelly Kenneth Alphonso Kelly (born January 26, 1979) is a former Major League Baseball outfielder who played in the major leagues for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Cincinnati Reds, and Washington Nationals. He had also been a quarterback for the University ...

. Tech mustered a Joe Hamilton touchdown late in the first half but Miami scored before the half ended on a Clinton Portis 73 yard run to lead 21–7. From that point on, Tech scored just six points on two Luke Manget field goals, which narrowed it to 21–13. But Ken Dorsey's touchdown pass to Reggie Wayne midway through the fourth quarter sealed the game for the Hurricanes.

Aftermath

The Jackets would go to one more bowl game with O'Leary before he left the program. The Jackets would return to the Gator Bowl seven years later. Miami would go to the Sugar Bowl the next year, their last bowl game with Davis before he departed for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

Statistics

References

Gator Bowl The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game held in Jacksonville, Florida, operated by Gator Bowl Sports. It has been held continuously since 1946, making it the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised natio ...

Gator Bowl Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football bowl games Miami Hurricanes football bowl games January 2000 sports events in the United States 2000 in sports in Florida {{Collegefootball-bowl-stub