The 2010

Allstate The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993 but still partially owned by S ...

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed onl ...

was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

that was part of the

Bowl Championship Series The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) was a selection system that created four or five bowl game match-ups involving eight or ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of American college football, including ...

(BCS) for the

2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Arabic digit In the beginning, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bottom dot. The Kshatrapa, Andhra and ...

and was the 76th Sugar Bowl. The

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni and its sports fans are often collectively referred to as t ...

defeated the

Cincinnati Bearcats The Cincinnati Bearcats are the athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. Though they will move to the Big 12 Conference (XII) the teams are currently a part of the American Athletic Conference (The American), which from 1979 ...

51-24 behind a record-setting performance by senior quarterback Tim Tebow.

Background

The contest was played on Friday, January 1, 2010, in the

Louisiana Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

between the

, who had been undefeated on the season until losing to #2 Alabama in the

SEC Championship Game The SEC Championship Game is an annual American football game that has determined the Southeastern Conference's season champion since 1992. The championship game pits the SEC East Division regular season champion against the West Division regula ...

and the

, winners of the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

. The Bearcats were coached by

Offensive Coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

Jeff Quinn Jeff Quinn (born September 26, 1962) is an American football coach. He was formerly an assistant coach at the University of Notre Dame. Quinn served as the head football coach at the University at Buffalo from 2010 to 2014. He was the 24th head c ...

on an interim basis after Head Coach Brian Kelly left Cincinnati to take the head coaching position at Notre Dame on December 10, 2009. This would be Quinn's only game as head coach for Cincinnati, as he had already accepted the head coaching position of the University of Buffalo's football team effective after the Sugar Bowl. This was Florida's eighth trip to the Sugar Bowl, having gone 2–5 in their previous seven appearances, the last being a 37–20 loss to Miami in 2001. For Cincinnati, this was their first appearance in the Sugar Bowl and their second in a BCS bowl game. The teams had met only once before - in 1984, when the Gators defeated the Bearcats 48–17 at

Florida Field Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (in full Steve Spurrier-Florida Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium),Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...

played college football at Cincinnati and was a member of that 1984 Cincinnati team.

Meyer's leave of absence

Several days before the game, Florida head coach

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is a college football TV commentator and former American football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green Falcons fro ...

announced that he would take an indefinite leave of absence after the Sugar Bowl due to health and family reasons, leading to much speculation about his future at Florida. In the post-game press conference, however, Meyer said that he "planned to be the coach of the Gators", and after spending more time with his family over the following weeks, he resumed his duties as Florida's head coach.

Game result

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow led the Gators to a 30-3 halftime lead and a 51-24 victory. Florida's offense set several Sugar Bowl records in the contest that still stand as of the 2018 edition. The Gators' 659 total yards were the most in Sugar Bowl history, and Tim Tebow set Sugar Bowl and

records with 482 passing yards and 533 total yards. Tebow's 320 first half passing yards also set a Sugar Bowl record, as did his 12 consecutive completions to start the game. Cincinnati wide receiver and returner

Mardy Gilyard Marshawn "Mardy" Gilyard (born December 2, 1986) is a current American football wide receiver who is a free agent and current defensive backs coach at Nichols College. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the fourth round of the 2010 NFL D ...

also broke Sugar Bowl records for return yards in the game.

Scoring summary

References

{{Florida Gators bowl game navbox

Sugar Bowl Cincinnati Bearcats football bowl games Florida Gators football bowl games January 2010 sports events in the United States 2010 in sports in Louisiana