The 2018 Gator Bowl was a

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 ...

played on December 31, 2018. It was the 74th edition of the

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 ...

, and one of the 2018–19 bowl games concluding the 2018 FBS football season. Sponsored by the financial technology company

TaxSlayer TaxSlayer LLC (formerly known as TaxSlayer.com) is a privately held tax preparation and financial technology company based in Augusta, Georgia. The company offers online tax preparation technology for American consumers and tax professionals, allo ...

, the game was officially known as the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, after four seasons without "Gator" in the bowl name.

Teams

The game featured the

NC State Wolfpack The NC State Wolfpack is the nickname of the athletic teams representing North Carolina State University. The Wolfpack competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for college footb ...

from 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 ...

(ACC) and the

Texas A&M Aggies Texas A&M Aggies refers to the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname "Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also referred to as "A&M" or "Texas Aggi ...

from the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC); the teams had never played each other. This was Texas A&M's second Gator Bowl and NC State's fourth.

NC State Wolfpack

NC State received and accepted a bid to the Gator Bowl on December 2. The Wolfpack entered the bowl with a 9–3 record (5–3 in conference).

Texas A&M Aggies

Texas A&M received and accepted a bid to the Gator Bowl on December 2. The Aggies entered the bowl with an 8–4 record (5–3 in conference).

Game summary

After holding a 21–13 lead at halftime, Texas A&M outscored NC State 31–0 in the second half, for a 52–13 final. Aggie running back

Trayveon Williams Trayveon Thomas Williams (born October 18, 1997) is an American football running back for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL).Zweneman, Brent.Give family its due for Trayveon Williams' success at A&M, ''The Houston Chron ...

set a new Gator Bowl rushing record with 236 yards, breaking the prior record of 216 that had been set in the 1966 edition by

Floyd Little Floyd Douglas Little (July 4, 1942 – January 1, 2021) was an American professional football player who was a halfback for the Denver Broncos, initially in the American Football League (AFL) and later the National Football League (NFL). He ...

. The game's attendance of 38,206 was the smallest since the 1950s.

Scoring summary

Statistics

References

External links

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Box score
at

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

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Gator Bowl

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