Sugar Bowl Tickets - No. 4 Cincinnati Vs. No. 5 Florida

After missing a shot at the national title by the slimmest of margins

, No. 4 Cincinnati will play fifth-ranked Florida in the 76th Sugar Bowl. Get Sugar Bowl tickets and see who comes out on top. Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly praised Florida when he called them "the benchmark" for college football in the last six years. The coach acknowledged that the Bearcats were excited about the matchup. He said, "Certainly our sights are set not only on being a good football team and a great matchup, but we want to win the football game."

The Gators lost the Southeastern Conference championship game to Alabama on Dec. 5, which snapped their 22-game winning streak and dashed their hopes of winning a third national title in four years. Florida coach Urban Meyer stated that he remains a Cincinnati fan since he attended the school. The coach viewed the Bearcats as one of the best teams in the nation and called them "SEC caliber." The Gators have been to the Sugar Bowl seven previous times, last playing there in 2001, when they lost to Miami. This will be Myer's first time at the Sugar Bowl as a coach.

Cincinnati (12-0) is making its second consecutive BCS appearance and will be playing in the Sugar Bowl for the first time. The Bearcats thought they had a shot at the national title after their 45-44 comeback at Pittsburgh on Dec. 5. That victory gave Cincy a perfect record on the year and a second straight Big East championship. Since Texas defeated Nebraska on Saturday and won the Big 12 title, the Bearcats had to settle for the Sugar Bowl. If Nebraska won it's matchup with Texas, Cincinnati would have played Alabama for the national title.

Kelly asked reporters in Cincinnati why his team couldn't be No. 1. The coach declared, "We won all of our games. We can only play the games they scheduled. After watching Nebraska-Texas last night, we're as good as anybody." Now the Big East is sending an undefeated team to the Big Easy to take on the SEC's second-best. Cincinnati will want to defend its reputation better than it did last year at the Orange Bowl, when the 12th ranked Bearcats lost 20-7 to Virginia Tech of the ACC.

The Gators should know better than to take Cincinnati lightly, based on what happened to Alabama last season. The 2009 Sugar Bowl was the Crimson Tide's consolation prize following a loss to Florida in the 2008 SEC title game. Alabama entered that game very lethargic, and wound up being no match for unbeaten Utah of the Mountain West. The Crimson Tide lost that contest 31-17. The Gators don't want to follow that same fate. Meyer echoed a statement that was on every Gator's mind: "Our legacy is going to be dependent on how we finish this season."

Kelly and Meyer both denied the rumor that they'll leave their current head coaching positions to coach for Notre Dame. Meyer has already told reporters he has no intention of leaving Florida, while Kelly refused to be worn down by the same question about Notre Dame's coaching vacancy.

by: Brent Warnken

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