| 2012 TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| 67th Gator Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 2, 2012 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Season | 2011 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | EverBank Field | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Jacksonville, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
| MVP | Andre Debose (WR, Florida) & Etienne Sabino (LB, Ohio State)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Florida by 2[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Cooper Castleberry (MWC) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 61,312 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Payout | US$2.5 million per team | ||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ESPN2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Mike Patrick (Play-by-Play) Ed Cunningham (Analyst) Jeannine Edwards (Sidelines) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nielsen ratings | 1.85 | ||||||||||||||||||
The 2012 TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl, the 67th edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on January 2, 2012 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida as part of the 2011–12 NCAA Bowl season. TaxSlayer.com was named the corporate title sponsor on September 1, 2011.[3] The game, which was telecasted at 1:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2, featured the Ohio State Buckeyes of the Big Ten Conference versus the Florida Gators of the Southeastern Conference.[4][5]
The game was a rematch of the 2007 BCS National Championship Game, where Florida emerged victorious. Florida's head coach for the 2007 game, Urban Meyer, was named head coach at Ohio State in November 2011 and took over the Buckeye football program in the 2012 season.[6] As such, this game is sometimes referred to as the Urban Meyer Bowl.[7]