Texas A&M replacement for Gator Bowl officially revealed

With Texas A&M out because of COVID-19, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights have officially stepped up to play Wake Forest in the Gator Bowl.

The college football bowl season has taken on a “next man up” mentality and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights are here for it.

On Thursday, Rutgers was officially named as Texas A&M’s replacement for the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. They even dropped a teaser video on Twitter.

Did the video department pull that one together on short notice or was that one just waiting for an opportunity to debut?

Rutgers is replacing Texas A&M as Wake Forest’s opponent in the Gator Bowl

Regardless of how it all came together, Rutgers is indeed going bowling thanks to their 5-7 record and high Academic Progress Rate. The Scarlet Knights had the top APR score among teams vying for the extra bowl opening.

Texas A&M had to blackout because of a massive COVID-19 outbreak on their roster. According to ESPN, the Aggies had just 38 scholarship players available.

This will be Rutgers’ first bowl appearance since 2014 when they won the Quick Lane Bowl over North Carolina. That win under Kyle Flood was a continuation of Greg Schiano’s bowl success at the program during his first stint from 2001 to 2011. Things went downhill under Flood and Chris Ash. Schiano is back now and even though the bowl bid came as a surprise, it’s a sign of things improving.

Still, it will take a minor miracle for the Scarlet Knights to pull out a victory when they meet the Demon Deacons on Dec. 31. The late invite means quite the mismatch between 5-7 Rutgers and 10-3 Wake Forest.

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