The 2002 FedEx Orange Bowl game was a post-season

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

between the

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

and the ACC champion

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's college sports in the United States, varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate ...

on January 2, 2002. Florida defeated Maryland 56–23. The game was part of the 2001–2002

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(BCS) of the 2001 NCAA Division I-A football season and was the concluding game of the season for both teams. The

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. Played annually since 1935 Orange Bowl, January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in ...

was first played in 1935, and the 2002 game was the 68th edition of the Orange Bowl. The contest was televised in the United States on ABC. This was

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's last game as coach of the Florida Gators as he resigned two days after the game.

Teams

Florida Gators

Florida, ranked No. 1 entering the season, lost two SEC games by a total of 5 points and missed out on the SEC championship game. Despite those setbacks, the talented Gators entered this matchup with a 9–2 record (6–2 SEC) and a No. 5 ranking in both major polls and the BCS.

Maryland Terrapins

Under first-year head coach and Maryland alumnus

Ralph Friedgen Ralph Harry Friedgen (born April 4, 1947) is a former American football coach. He was most recently the special assistant coach for Rutgers in 2015 after serving as their offensive coordinator in the 2014 season. He was the head coach at the Un ...

, the Terps surprised many by finishing 10–1 after the regular season. That included a 7–1 conference record which gave Maryland its first ACC title since 1985.

Game summary

This potentially exciting matchup did not live up to the hype. Florida opened the scoring with a 1-yard TD run by Earnest Graham just over five minutes into the game. The opening quarter ended with some fireworks as each team scored a long touchdown in the final 12 seconds and the Gators led 14–7. Maryland's Nick Novak kicked a 20-yard field goal with 12:20 remaining in the first half to make the score 14–10. The Terrapins inability to tie the game preceded an offensive onslaught by Florida that would last until the close of the third quarter. The Gators quick strike offense scored 35 consecutive points including three TD passes by Heisman runner-up Rex Grossman and a second Graham TD run in just over 15 minutes of game play to open a 49–10 advantage and put the game well out of reach. Two touchdown runs by the Terps' Marc Riley sandwiched a fourth Grossman TD pass to close out the scoring, giving

a 56–23 win in his final game as Florida's head coach.

Statistics

References

Florida Gators football bowl games Maryland Terrapins football bowl games Orange Bowl

January 2002 sports events in the United States Sports competitions in Miami Gardens, Florida {{Florida-sport-stub