Florida to Face Virginia in the 2019 Capital One Orange Bowl

The Florida Gators will end their successful 2019 season in a New Year's Six Bowl that's relatively close to home.

Florida (10-2, 6-2 SEC) has been ranked No. 9 in the final College Football Playoff Rankings prior to the playoffs, and will face the No. 24 Virginia Cavaliers (9-4, 6-2 ACC) in the 2019 Capital One Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, FL, on December 30th at 8 P.M.

This marks the second New Year's Six Bowl game in a row for Florida, two in as many seasons with Dan Mullen as the Gators' head coach. Not a bad start to the Mullen era.

You can get your tickets to the Orange Bowl here.

The Gators should be favored in this matchup, but Virginia did advance to the ACC Championship on Saturday and lost to No. 3 Clemson (13-0, 8-0 ACC), 62-17. Virginia does not have a win against a ranked opponent this season.

Cornerback C.J. Henderson has already announced his intention to miss the bowl game as he prepares for the 2020 NFL Draft as an early entrant. Given the opponent and that Florida is not competing in the College Football Playoff, expect other players on their way to the NFL to follow Henderson's suit.

The College Football Playoffs will begin on December 28th, with No. 1 LSU (13-0, 8-0 SEC) and No. 4 Oklahoma (12-1, 8-1 Big 12) set to face off in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl at 4 P.M., with No. 2 Ohio State (13-0, 9-0 Big 10) and Clemson following in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl at 8 P.M.