JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There will be a TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, just a day after there was danger that the nation's sixth-oldest college postseason game would go dark.
The 77th edition of the game will pit Wake Forest (10-3) vs. Rutgers (5-7) on Dec. 31 at TIAA Bank Field (11 a.m., ESPN), with Rutgers accepting an invitation 25 hours after Texas A&M had to withdraw because its roster was depleted due to COVID-19 issues, injuries, opt-outs and players entering the transfer portal.
The news was first reported by nj.com.
"We feel relief, absolutely," said Gator Bowl president Greg McGarity. "The first thing we want to do is thank the ACC office, [Wake Forest athletic director] John Currie, the NCAA, Rutgers and our staff for being able to pivot so quickly. We lost Texas A&M and just over 24 hours later, we had a team. It's really remarkable."
It won't be easy for the Knights, who last played on Thanksgiving weekend. They will have to quickly gather their football coaching staff, operations staff and more than 100 players from the Christmas holidays to return to New Jersey to begin bowl preparation.
However, coach Greg Schiano said the team was more than willing to overcome any obstacles.
"This is an exciting time for Rutgers," he told the school's athletics web site. "I'm so happy for our players to be able to experience a great bowl game atmosphere."
Rutgers became the replacement team after the NCAA football oversight committee voted on Thursday to turn to teams that finished 5-7 to replace the Aggies, with the priority based on the Academic Progress Rate. Rutgers had the best number among the available 5-7 teams.
The Knights haven't played a bowl game since beating North Carolina 40-21 in the 2014 Quick Lane Bowl, and have only played in two Florida bowl games in its history, the last at the 2012 Russell Athletic Bowl.
Their seven-year gap between bowls in the nation's second-longest drought among Power Five teams, surpassed only by Kansas State (eight years). Rutgers is 6-4 in bowls, but 5-1 under Schiano.
"This will be a school very excited to be here," McGarity said. "We have a Power-Five team, a Big Ten team and now we're going to hope everyone from both teams stays healthy."
Rutgers also may bring a healthy chunk of the New York metropolitan market for the TVA ratings.
"We won't know until they come in," McGarity said. "Texas A&M would have been strong, since they draw heavily from Houston and Dallas, and the SEC dominates all conferences in TV ratings. But the good news is we'll have no competition in our time slow and we lead into the two [CFP] semifinals on ESPN."
Texas A&M announced on Wednesday that it was unable to participate in the Gator Bowl after COVID-19 issues, injuries, players entering the transfer portal and others opting out of a bowl game to prepare for the NFL draft left them with 38 scholarship players.
NCAA rules require players to field teams with 85 scholarship players.
It put the Gator Bowl in jeopardy of having to be the first bowl of the season canceled because of COVID-19-related issues. Last year, during the first wave of the pandemic, 17 bowls were canceled.
The Gator Bowl was not one of them. Kentucky, a team with a 4-6 regular-season record, beat N.C. State, 23-21.
There have been 12 bowl games played through Wednesday, with two more scheduled on Thursday, including the Gasparilla Bowl in Tampa matching Florida against UCF.
The Knights are a bit offensively challenged this season. They're 12th in total offense and 11th in total defense in the Big Ten, and their highest conference ranking is ninth in rushing offense at 141.2 yards per game.
Rutgers is led on offense by senior quarterback Noah Vedral, who has 1,726 yards passing and seven touchdown passes and is second on the team in rushing with 280 yards.
His top target is senior Bo Melton, with 55 receptions for 618 yards and three scores. Isaih Pacheco is the leading rusher with 647 yards and five TDs.
Trinity Christian graduate Isaiah Washington, a sophomore wide receiver, has 17 catches for 159 yards. In three seasons for the Knights, he has 44 catches for 527 yards.
Melton's brother, Max, leads the Knights in interceptions with three. They're part of a family of Rutgers athletes: their father Gary was a wide receiver and running back from 1987-1991 and their mother Vicky played on the Knights basketball team from 1989-1993.
Gator Bowl tickets are available by visiting taxslayergatorbowl.com.
