2010 Capital One Bowl

2010 Capital One Bowl
1234 Total
Penn State 7633 19
LSU 0377 17
DateJanuary 1, 2010
Season2009
StadiumFlorida Citrus Bowl
LocationOrlando, Florida
MVPDaryll Clark (Penn State QB)
RefereeBrian O'Cain (Pac-10)
Attendance63,025
PayoutUS$4,250,000
United States TV coverage
NetworkABC
AnnouncersBrad Nessler (play-by-play)
Todd Blackledge (analyst)
Erin Andrews (sideline)
Nielsen ratings6.8[1]
Capital One Bowl
 < 2009  2011

The 2010 Capital One Bowl was the sixty-fourth edition of the college football bowl game, and was played at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida. The game was played on January 1 and matched the LSU Tigers against the Penn State Nittany Lions. Penn State won the game 19–17 after a 21-yard field goal by Penn State kicker Collin Wagner with 57 seconds left in the game.

Although the game marked LSU's third appearance in the Capital One Bowl and Penn State's fifth, it was the first time the two teams faced each other in the bowl's history, and only the second time the two teams met overall (the first being the 1974 Orange Bowl). The two teams represented the highest ranked SEC team and Big Ten team not appearing in a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl game.

The game was notable for its poor field conditions. Eight state high school championship games had been played at the stadium in recent weeks, but the turf was replaced immediately after the last games on December 19. The Champs Sports Bowl, played ten days later, badly damaged the new turf. The grounds crew worked frantically over the next three days in an attempt to get the field in shape for the Capital One Bowl, but ultimately failed. As a result, this was the last Capital One Bowl to be played on grass as artificial turf was installed at the Citrus Bowl several months later.

  1. ^ Jon Solomon, 2009-10 Bowl TV Ratings, The Birmingham News, January 13, 2010