Gator Bowl Association chairman Daniel Kennedy Murphy talks about the Florida State-West Virginia matchup for the New Year's Day game.

Word got out early last week that this could be the matchup, did you see a surge in ticket sales?

"Both locally and nationally, the response has been tremendous. We think that ticket sales will go through the roof (now).
 
WWhether you’re a Florida State fan or not, you’ve got to respect everything that Bobby Bowden has done. There isn’t going to be another Bobby Bowden. … All around the country, this is going to be a great event and a great celebration of a great coach, really a great icon and a great ambassador of college football.''

Was there much discussion with the ACC about bypassing teams with better records to take FSU?

"To be honest, there weren’t many discussions. ... We followed what the contract allows. It’s as simple as that. There wasn’t a lot of intrigue. There wasn’t a lot of discussion. The contract’s pretty cut and dried. We made a decision and the ACC obviously supports that decision that we think the best thing for the bowl this year was to invite Florida State and pit them against West Virginia.''

But did FSU earn it by its play?
"We have a team and a monumental event that someone was going to be a part of in this whole bowl system and we just felt real fortunate that we could be the bowl to be able to host coach Bowden, in the state of Florida, against the West Virginia Mountaineers. We just couldn’t think of a better way for coach Bowden to go out, that was really coming full circle for him.
It’s more than one game. It's more than one season. ... Honestly, we couldn’t have scripted it any better than this.

"We’re putting together two tremendous programs, two great teams this season, one Hall of Fame coach. I’m not sure any bowl in America could put together a more compelling matchup in this year’s bowl season than what we’ve been able to put together right here. From my standpoint, I’m really not sure what we would apologize for.''

Murphy also said CBS, the game's television partner, is just as excited. He said that fans will be watching, whether in person or on TV, "to seen an end of an unbelievable era.''