The 1994 Gator Bowl was an American college football bowl game between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Virginia Tech Hokies at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, Florida, on December 30, 1994. The game was the final contest of the 1994 NCAA Division I-A football season for both teams, and ended in a 45–23 victory for Tennessee.
The 1994 Gator Bowl saw Tennessee face off against regional rival 17th-ranked Virginia Tech at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on the campus of the University of Florida. The game was moved to Gainesville in 1994 due to renovations to the Gator Bowl for the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Tennessee Volunteers came entered the game with a regular-season record of 7–4 under head coach Phillip Fulmer that included a 5–3 record in Southeastern Conference competition. Virginia Tech came into the game with an 8–3 regular-season record that included a record of 5–2 in Big East Conference competition.
The game kicked off at 8:00 PM. From the start, Tennessee's high-scoring offense dominated. The Volunteers scored two touchdowns in the first quarter and three in the second, while Virginia Tech was able to muster a lone touchdown and field goal in the second quarter. At halftime, Tennessee had a commanding 35–10 lead, behind the strong play of Freshman QB Peyton Manning.
The Hokies struggled back in the third quarter, scoring six unanswered points to close the score to 35–16. In the fourth quarter, however, Tennessee answered Virginia Tech's effort with 10 points, putting the game out of reach for the Hokies, who managed only a single touchdown in the fourth quarter. The Hokies fumbled the ball five times—losing it once—and threw two interceptions, allowing Tennessee to cruise to an easy victory, 45–23. Tennessee running back James Stewart was named the game's most valuable player.
Renovations
In early 1994, Jacksonville Mayor Ed Austin proposed $49 million in renovations to Jacksonville's aging Gator Bowl Stadium in order to keep the stadium up to date for the annual Florida-Georgia rivalry game. After Florida and Georgia accepted the renovations, agreeing to play the rivalry game in Athens, Georgia during the renovations, Jacksonville investors proposed expanding the renovation plan in order to attract a National Football League team. The price tag was revised upward—to $121 million—and the city successfully attracted a team. Shortly after Jacksonville was awarded its new franchise—the Jacksonville Jaguars—the final plans were unveiled. The stadium would have additional luxury boxes, expanded seating, and upgraded facilities for teams and fans.
The renovations were much more extensive than had initially been proposed, and required more time to be completed. Instead of beginning in early 1995, work would have to begin in 1994, leaving the site of the 1994 Gator Bowl (played on Dec. 30) in doubt. By the end of January 1994, as the Gator Bowl was being demolished, that doubt was also demolished when a deal was struck to host the Gator Bowl at the University of Florida, in that school's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. The game's title sponsor, Outback Steakhouse, and its television sponsor, TBS, would remain constant, and both were in their final year of contracts with the Gator Bowl.
Team selection
Prior to the start of the 1994–95 college football season, the Gator Bowl was snubbed by the newly formed Bowl Alliance, a group of football conferences, bowl games, and television networks created to match up the No. 1 and No. 2 college football teams at the conclusion of each season. Though the Gator Bowl offered to pay $115 million for the right to become a Bowl Alliance game, the Orange Bowl was selected in place of the Gator Bowl. This event had repercussions at the end of the season, when the bowl was passed over by high-ranked teams that elected to accept bids to bowls in the new Bowl Alliance.
Tennessee
The Tennessee Volunteers had finished the 1993 season with a 10–2 record and a season-ending loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions under first-year head coach Phillip Fulmer in the . Hopes were high that Tennessee's second year under Fulmer's command would end better than its first.