Ohio St. picked for Gator Bowl

Associated Press

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.

Urban Meyer’s former and future teams will play in the Gator Bowl.

Florida (6-6) and Ohio State (6-6) were chosen to meet in the Jan. 2 game in Jacksonville, a marquee matchup between once-proud programs that slipped significantly this season. The teams last played in the 2006 national championship game, which Florida won 41-14.

Meyer’s hiring earlier in the week in Columbus makes the rematch even more intriguing.

But both sides insist it won’t be a distraction, even though Meyer already has lured highly regarded strength coach Mickey Marotti away from Florida.

“I don’t know that this is going to make it any more difficult for me,” Ohio State interim coach Luke Fickell said.

“I don’t know that you could get any more distractions than what we’ve had,” Fickell said. “I think our guys are just so excited to have some clarity about what’s going to happen in the future so they can put those things behind them. I don’t think this will be nearly as hard on them.”

PENN STATE

The final game of No. 24 Penn State’s tumultuous season will be played on Jan. 2 in the Ticket City Bowl against No. 20 Houston.

The Nittany Lions (9-3, 6-2) finished tied with Wisconsin for first in the Big Ten Leaders Division.

But the program is in turmoil after former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was charged last month with sexually abusing eight boys over a 15-year span. School trustees fired Joe Paterno in the aftermath of the charges amid mounting criticism that the Hall of Fame coach and other school leaders should have done more to prevent alleged abuse.

The Ticket City Bowl, played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, had the seventh selection out of bowls with Big Ten tie-ins, after the BCS games.

Houston (12-1) fell from a potential berth in the Bowl Championship Series to the Ticket City after getting upset by Southern Mississippi on Saturday in the Conference USA title game.

Notre Dame

Florida State will play Notre Dame in Champs Sports Bowl Dec. 29 at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

The Irish (8-4) are making their first trip to Orlando and is looking for its second consecutive bowl win after beating Miami in the Sun Bowl last season.