The 2021 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, 2021, with kickoff at 11:00 a.m. EST and televised on

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 ...

. It was the 77th 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 was one of the 2021–22 bowl games concluding the 2021 FBS football season. Sponsored by 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. On December 22,

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

withdrew from the bowl, citing a breakout of positive COVID-19 cases and season-ending injuries limiting them to few players. The bowl committee then worked to secure another participant. On December 23, the NCAA football oversight committee approved

Rutgers Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was a ...

as the first bowl alternate, under rules whereby five-win teams are ranked by

Academic Progress Rate The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is a measure introduced by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the nonprofit association that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada, to tr ...

(APR) calculations. Rutgers finished first in APR among the five-win schools and was given the option to accept the bid. The NCAA also allowed the game to be postponed as late as January 10, if needed by a replacement team. Rutgers accepted the bid, and the game date was not altered.

Teams

The bowl has tie-ins with 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

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 initially planned matchup of Wake Forest vs.

was consistent with those ties-ins, until Texas A&M had to withdraw from the bowl due to an insufficient number of players being available. Rutgers of the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

was subsequently named as a replacement team due to having the highest APR amongst candidates.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Wake Forest enters the bowl with a 10–3 record (7–1 in ACC play). The Demon Deacons won their first eight games, then went 2–3 over their final five games. Wake Forest played two ranked teams, defeating

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

and losing to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Rutgers Scarlet Knights

Rutgers finished their season with a 5–7 record (2–7 in Big Ten play). The Scarlet Knights won their first three games, then lost four in a row, and finished the season by going 2–3 in their final five games. Four of their losses came against ranked teams in FBS.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{Wake Forest Demon Deacons bowl game navbox

Gator Bowl Rutgers Scarlet Knights football bowl games Wake Forest Demon Deacons football bowl games