written by: BB73, Buckeyeskickbuttocks, Bucklion, BuckyKatt, DaddyBigBucks, JCOSU86, and jwinslow

Ohio State is making its first appearance in the Gator Bowl since 1978, when No. 20 Ohio State lost to No. 6 Clemson, 17-15, in Woody Hayes' final game as head coach of the Buckeyes. This will be Ohio State's first bowl game in the State of Florida since the 2002 Outback Bowl. This is Ohio State's 12th consecutive bowl appearance, the last season Ohio State did not go to a bowl was in 1999. The school record for consecutive seasons going to a bowl game is 15 (1972-86), but the current streak will end after this year. Ohio State is meeting Florida for just the second time ever - the only previous meeting was the 2007 BCS National Championship game in Glendale.

NOTE - numbers about bowl appearances include last year's Sugar Bowl, since this preview deals in reality and vacating wins is simply stupid.

Ohio State has a 20-22 record in bowl games, dating back to the 1921 Rose Bowl, where the Buckeyes were defeated 28-0 by California. The Buckeyes have appeared in 12 different bowl games during their storied history, counting the BCS Championship Game as a separate bowl, and counting the Hall of Fame/Outback Bowl as one.

The Buckeyes are 6-3 in BCS game appearances, and hold a 15-19 record in bowl games played on New Year's Day or later.

Ohio State has a nation's best nine BCS bowl appearances. Oklahoma has 8, and USC is third with seven. Ohio State is 6-3 in those BCS bowls, tied with USC (6-1) for the most BCS Bowl wins, just ahead of Florida (5-1).

In Ohio State's eight BCS bowl appearances, they have only been the Big Ten's automatic BCS bowl qualifier four times (2002, 2006, 2007, 2009). They have received an at-large berth four times (1998, 2003, 2008, 2010) and were an automatic participant by the `3-4 rule' in 2005.

Ohio State has won the Fiesta Bowl three times, the Sugar Bowl twice and the Rose Bowl once in the BCS era. The Buckeyes join Oklahoma (Orange, Rose and Fiesta), Florida (Orange, Sugar and BCS title game) and Miami (Sugar, Rose and Orange) as the only teams to win three different BCS bowls.

Ohio State is among three different programs to have appeared in at least four different BCS bowls, joining Oklahoma and Miami. The Buckeyes only need to play in the Orange Bowl to join Oklahoma as the only program to appear in five different BCS bowls. While Miami has won the BCS title (2001 season), they have not played in a bowl game specifically called the BCS title game.

Ohio State has appeared in a bowl game in 22 of the last 23 seasons. Nineteen of those bowl appearances (including this year's) have taken place in January. Ohio State will be appearing in a January bowl for the seventh straight season. The two teams in this match-up have had the most January bowl game appearances in the last 20 years.

January Bowls (since January 1, 1992, including 2012 bids)
19 - Florida
18 - Ohio State
16 - Florida State
16 - Michigan
15 - Penn State

Ohio State (20) has the most bowl wins all-time as a Big Ten representative, just ahead of MIchigan's 19. Nebraska is 24-23 in bowl games, but has not represented the Big Ten in the postseason until this year.

Ohio State has not finished with a losing record since finishing 4-6-1 in 1988 (John Cooper's first season leading the Buckeyes). Ohio State's run of 21 straight seasons without a losing record is the third-longest among active FBS teams. Florida State has gone 34 straight seasons since finishing 5-6 in 1976 and Florida has gone 31 seasons since going 0-10-1 in 1979. Virginia Tech and Texas Tech have the fourth-longest runs at 18 seasons each.

Braxton Miller joined a distinguished list of Buckeyes that have been named B1G Freshman of the Year.

Ohio State's Big Ten Freshmen of the Year:

1990 - Robert Smith, RB
1992 - Korey Stringer, OT
1994 - Orlando Pace, OT
1996 - Andy Katzenmoyer, LB
2002 - Maurice Clarett, RB
2008 - Terrelle Pryor, QB
2011 - Braxton Miller, QB

All-American center Mike Brewster will start his 49th consecutive game in the Gator Bowl, leaving him 1 game shy of Luke Fickell's team record.

Officially, Ohio State has scored 32 of 36 times (88.9 percent) this season inside the 20 with 23 touchdowns and nine field goals. The only four times the Buckeyes have failed to score came on a fumble and on three end-of-game possessions against Akron, Colorado and Indiana while running out the clock. So if you take out those three instances, Ohio State is really 32 of 33 (97.0 percent). Since Rod Smith's fumble in the first quarter against Akron, Ohio State has scored on 30 consecutive red zone possessions if you don't count the three possessions in which the Buckeyes took a knee to run out the clock.

Later in this preview, we'll look specifically at this year's offense, defense and special teams for both tOSU and Florida. The preview also has a totally separate section that covers the opponent's coaching staff, recruiting, traditions, and history. It also contains the Behind the Numbers and The Lighter Side sections, and can be accessed via the link at the bottom of this page.

Date: Monday, January 2nd, 2012
Time: 1 pm ET Kick-off
Location: EverBank Field (Jacksonville, FL)
Constructed: 1995 (Replaced Gator Bowl that was built in 1946)
Seating Capacity: 77,000
Playing Surface: Grass
Events:

Broadcast Information: TV Broadcast: ESPN2: Mike Patrick (play-by-play), Ed Cunningham (analysis), and Jeannine Edwards (sideline).

Radio Broadcast: Ohio State Radio Network (WBNS FM 97.1 The Fan in Columbus): Paul Keels (Play-by-play), Jim Lachey (Analysis), and Marty Bannister (Sideline); also on Sirius/XM channel 91.

2011 Florida Gators Offensive Preview

Rarely do New Year's Day (OK, January 2) Bowl games feature a pair of 6-6 teams, yet the Gator Bowl gobbled up Ohio State and Florida in what is now being coined the Urban Meyer Bowl, as his former and future programs collide in a much less anticipated rematch of the title game following the 2006 season. First year head coach Will Muschamp found out just how difficult it is to make the transition to a major coaching job from a coordinator position, going 6-6 in the highly competitive SEC and losing his offensive coordinator after just one season. Muschamp is a high energy coach who brings a lot of enthusiasm to his players, but questions remain about his ability to compete in major college football after finishing with a losing record in the SEC (3-5) while playing in the significantly weaker Eastern Division and dropping 6 of his last 8 after starting off 4-0. The Gators failed to secure a signature win in 2011, dropping all 5 of its games against ranked teams and getting dominated by their arch-rival Florida State. The Gators in fact only beat one bowl team in 2011...Vanderbilt. Still the Gators field a reasonably good defense and if the offense can avoid turnovers, they can compete against some of the better teams in the country and could give Ohio State a thorough challenge in what amounts to a home game.

Also rarely does a New Year's Day (OK, January 2) Bowl game feature 2 teams that fail to crack the top 100 in total offense. Yet amazingly, for as