2010 Sugar Bowl

The 2010 Allstate Sugar Bowl was an American college football bowl game that was part of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) for the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season and was the 76th Sugar Bowl. The Florida Gators defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats 51–24 behind a record-setting performance by senior quarterback Tim Tebow.

The contest was played on Friday, January 1, 2010, in the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana between the Florida Gators, who had been undefeated on the season until losing to #2 Alabama in the SEC Championship Game and the Cincinnati Bearcats, winners of the Big East Conference. The Bearcats were coached by Offensive coordinator Jeff Quinn on an interim basis after Head Coach Brian Kelly left Cincinnati to take the head coaching position at Notre Dame on December 10, 2009. This would be Quinn's only game as head coach for Cincinnati, as he had already accepted the head coaching position of the University of Buffalo's football team effective after the Sugar Bowl.

This was Florida's eighth trip to the Sugar Bowl, having gone 2–5 in their previous seven appearances, the last being a 37–20 loss to Miami in 2001. For Cincinnati, this was their first appearance in the Sugar Bowl and their second in a BCS bowl game. The teams had met only once before - in 1984, when the Gators defeated the Bearcats 48–17 at Florida Field. Florida's head coach Urban Meyer played college football at Cincinnati and was a member of that 1984 Cincinnati team.^[3]

Several days before the game, Florida head coach Urban Meyer announced that he would take an indefinite leave of absence after the Sugar Bowl due to health and family reasons, leading to much speculation about his future at Florida.^[4] In the post-game press conference, however, Meyer said that he "planned to be the coach of the Gators", and after spending more time with his family over the following weeks, he resumed his duties as Florida's head coach.^[5]

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow led the Gators to a 30–3 halftime lead and a 51–24 victory.^[6] Florida's offense set several Sugar Bowl records in the contest that still stand as of the 2018 edition. The Gators' 659 total yards were the most in Sugar Bowl history, and Tim Tebow set Sugar Bowl and Bowl Championship Series records with 482 passing yards and 533 total yards.^[7] Tebow's 320 first half passing yards also set a Sugar Bowl record, as did his 12 consecutive completions to start the game.^[8] Cincinnati wide receiver and returner Mardy Gilyard also broke Sugar Bowl records for return yards in the game.