Orange Bowl: Yellow Jackets Are the Favorites, But Hawkeyes Will Bring More Fans

Land Shark Stadium will host the 76th annual Orange Bowl tonight, with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets taking on the Iowa Hawk Eyes. Locally, the most exciting facet could be that this game might mark the last time Land Shark will be officially known by that terrible moniker (it'll revert...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

January 5, 2010

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Land Shark Stadium will host the 76th annual Orange Bowl tonight, with the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets taking on the Iowa Hawk Eyes. Locally, the most exciting facet could be that this game might mark the last time Land Shark will be officially known by that terrible moniker (it'll revert back to Dolphin Stadium or take another sponsored name in time for the Super Bowl). And though the Orange Bowl is not as dramatic as some of the other BCS bowls, it might be one of the more intriguing matchups of the postseason.

Perhaps the best two-loss teams in college football will collide, with Tech bringing its top-tier offense and Iowa bringing one hell of a D. The last time the Yellow Jackets came to Miami, they got thrashed by the Miami Hurricanes for their only ACC loss of the season.

Despite the fact the Jackets are the oddsmakers' favorites, maybe those bad Miami memories explain why we're seeing a lot more black and gold around town than white and gold. Aftermarket ticket retailer StubHub.com reports 28 percent of ticket buyers are from the state of Iowa, while Georgians have snapped up only about 15 percent.

Iowans also payed more per ticket ($180) than Georgians ($173), with $177 the average price spent. That's up from $63 for the average StubHub ticket at last year's game.

Even Iowans are noticing their fan base is far outnumbering the Techies in town.

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