History: Capital One Bowl

Previously known as the Tangerine Bowl and the Florida Citrus Bowl, the Capital One Bowl is one of the oldest non-BCS bowls. The first game in 1947 drew 9,000 fans.

In 1952, the game earned a second name -- "The Little Bowl with the Big Heart," since all game proceeds went to charity.

In the game's early years it exclusively featured teams from the south -- and usually smaller colleges from conferences like the Ohio Valley Conference. After becoming a major bowl game, the pool of schools used grew substantially. In the 1970s, Southern Conference, SEC or even at-large schools were invited.

In the late 80s and early 90s, the ACC champion played against an at-large team. Finally, in 1992, the game became a matchup between the Big Ten and the SEC, as it is now.

Memorable moments

• Buffalo refused its invitation to the Tangerine Bowl in 1958 because the two African-American players on the team were not going to be allowed on the field. The next time the Bulls were bowl-eligible? Fifty years later, when they faced UConn in the 2008 International Bowl. (Buffalo lost that game 38-20.)

• In 1966, Morgan State became the first HBCU team to play in the Tangerine Bowl. Not only did it play, it won -- defeating West Chester to earn its second consecutive undefeated season.

• In 1973, due to delayed construction of improvements to the stadium, the game was moved to Gainesville, Fla. Why Gainesville? Florida was invited to play as an at-large team after East Carolina backed out. To lessen the financial impact, both teams were still based in Orlando, including for practices, and were bussed to Gainesville for the game.

• In the 1991 version of the game, Georgia Tech was named the UPI 1990 national champion after beating Nebraska 45-21.

• The largest attendance at this bowl happened in 1998 when Florida took on Penn State. The ironic part here is that after Tennessee had been invited to this bowl  -- which traditionally has hosted the second-place SEC team -- three of four years, then-Florida head coach Steve Spurrier joked that you "can't spell citrus without U-T." While Spurrier and the Gators were in Orlando, Tennesee was playing for the national championship in the Orange Bowl.