No. 9 Florida (10-2) and No. 24 Virginia (9-4) will face off against each other for the first time in 60 years, when the Gators and the Cavaliers square off in the 2019 Capital One Orange Bowl.
"I think, that having two of the Top 10 academic schools in the country also facing off in a premier bowl game in a New Year's Six bowl.. I think is a great honor and says a lot about both programs and both universities," said Gators head coach Dan Mullen.
Although this is the first time both teams have encountered each other on the field in six decades, Mullen and Bronco Mendenhall are no strangers to each other.
“Our history goes back a little further,” the UVA head coach told reporters on Sunday during his teleconference “I was the defensive coordinator at Brigham Young and he was the quarterback’s coach under Urban Meyer at the University of Utah. So our paths had crossed back in those days."
In 2003, Mullen, as the Utah quarterbacks coach, went up against Mendehall's defense, with the now UVA head coach serving as BYU's defensive coordinator under Gary Crowton. Utah won 3-0 in a. defensive showdown.
One year later, the Utes put up 52 points on BYU and won 52-21.
"I think Dan has made his mark not only being a head coach but through offensive football and a key and really skilled strategist," Mendenhall said of Mullen. " I remember that from before and it doesn’t look like anything’s happened other than he’s expanded and improved in that role. He was already really, really strong from our days back at BYU.”
“I know his body of work. I know his body of leadership and the results that he’s produced," added the UVA head coach. " I certainly see their record and I see their ranking. So we expect a very similar program that we just faced. And we certainly know that we have improvement to make in relation to that, so I expect a great test from Florida.”
The Gators head coach was also quick to praise the job Mendenhall has done in Charlottesville.
"From some of the highlights, they have an explosive quarterback, one of the top playmaking quarterbacks in the country," said Mullen about what stands out immediately about the Wahoos. "You look statistically at them, they've got great wide receivers, playmakers on offense, kick returners, guys that can score touchdowns.
"When you watch their defense they're a team that's very aggressive, gonna pressure you from every different direction, come at you a lot of different ways. They have a lot of length on that side of the ball," added Mullen "They play extremely hard and everybody knows Bronco and the type of job he does. He's a great coach and they're going to play sound, disciplined and hard."
The two teams will play in South Florida on Dec. 30.
