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1996 Gator Bowl

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College football game
1996 Toyota Gator Bowl
51st Gator Bowl
Syracuse Orangemen Clemson Tigers
(8–3) (8–3)
Big East ACC
41 0
Head coach: 
Paul Pasqualoni
Head coach: 
Tommy West
AP
23
1234 Total
Syracuse 200147 41
Clemson 0000 0
DateJanuary 1, 1996
Season1995
StadiumJacksonville Municipal Stadium
LocationJacksonville, Florida
MVPDonovan McNabb (Syracuse), QB
Peter Ford (Clemson), CB
RefereeJim Kemerling (Big Ten)
Attendance45,202
United States TV coverage
NetworkNBC
AnnouncersTom Hammond & Bob Trumpy
Gator Bowl
 < 1994 1997

The 1996 Gator Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Syracuse Orangemen and the Clemson Tigers.

Background

This was the first Gator Bowl to feature the second-place teams from the Big East Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference. This was Syracuse's first Gator Bowl since 1966, and Clemson's first since 1989. This was the first Gator Bowl game to be played at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, which was built on the site of the former Gator Bowl Stadium.

Game summary

Donovan McNabb went 13-of-23 for 309 yards and 3 touchdowns as the Orangemen routed the Tigers in a rain soaked contest. Malcolm Thomas started the scoring for the Orangemen on a 1-yard touchdown run after a drive of 64 yards. McNabb went on a 5-yard run for a touchdown to make it 13–0. Marvin Harrison caught a touchdown pass from McNabb to make it 20–0 as the first quarter ended. After a scoreless second quarter, Thomas ran for his second touchdown to make it 27–0. Harrison caught his second touchdown from McNabb from 56 yards out to make it 34–0 after three quarters. Kaseem Sinceno caught a touchdown pass from McNabb in the fourth to close out the scoring. Clemson was held to less than 200 yards and committed 3 turnovers. Marvin Harrison caught seven receptions for 173 yards and two touchdowns in his final college game. This was Syracuse's sixth straight bowl win.

Aftermath

Both teams ended up playing another bowl game in the calendar year of 1996. The Tigers made three more bowl games before the turn of the century, and the Orange made four before the 1990s ended. The Tigers would return to the Gator Bowl in 2001, 2009 and 2023.

Statistics

Statistics Syracuse Clemson
First downs 21 12
Yards rushing 158 90
Yards passing 309 69
Total yards 467 159
Punts-average 4–43.5 6–49.3
Fumbles-lost 1–0 1–0
Interceptions 1 3
Penalties-yards 7–65 1–16

References

  1. "McNabb, Orange crush Clemson". The Standard-Star. January 2, 1996. Retrieved February 9, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. "1996 Gator Bowl".
1995–96 NCAA football bowl game season
Gator Bowl
Known as the TaxSlayer Bowl from 2014–2017
History & conference tie-ins
Games
Notes
  • There was a Gator Bowl in January and December in 1954, 1960, 1965, 1971, 1989, 1991, 2016, and 2021.
Syracuse Orange bowl games
Clemson Tigers bowl games

# denotes national championship game; † denotes College Football Playoff semifinal game

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