Pack your bags, and book your tickets, the Nittany Lions are headed to Tampa on New Years Day to face the mighty Gators of Florida!

The Nittany Lions (7-5, 4-4 B10), selected with the #2 pick of Big Ten teams by the Outback Bowl will essentially be playing an away game when they face the in-state Florida Gators who also finished with a 7-5, 4-4 (SEC) conference record in Tampa. The two programs last met in a bowl game in 1997 when they played in the Florida Citrus Bowl, but this will mark the first meeting between Joe Paterno and Urban Meyer. The Outback Bowl, celebrating it’s 25th anniversary will be televised nationally on ABC at 1pm EST will pay $3.1 million to each team, which ranks among the top five for non-BCS bowls.

“This team has worked hard all season and has been a great group to work with,” PSU coach Joe Paterno said. “I’m happy for the squad that their efforts will be rewarded with an opportunity to go to the Outback Bowl, where we have had some wonderful experiences, and be involved in a good, tough game. It will be fun to go back to the Tampa Bay area.”

Although the Lions will be playing the Gators in their home state, they are no strangers to the Outback Bowl where they have beaten SEC foes Tigers (1996), Wildcats (1999) and Volunteers (2007) for a unblemished 3-0 record. A stark contrast to Florida’s 1-2 record whose only victory in the Outback came at Iowa’s expense in 2006.

The Outback Bowl, who owns the #2 pick of Big Ten teams following the BCS and Capital One Bowl, decided to go with Penn State passing over fellow Big Ten programs Iowa, Michigan and Northwestern who all share a 7-5 record. But the selection should be particularly disturbing to Iowa fans who watched their Hawkeyes fall below Penn State and Michigan, (2 teams they had beaten during the season) in the bowl pecking order when they were essentially relegated to the Insight bowl. The Gator Bowl, having won the coin toss this year, decided to select the Michigan Wolverines which leaves the Hawkeyes to be selected by the Insight Bowl. So much for that lofty #9 preseason ranking.

But when it comes down to it, Penn State is simply unmatched when it comes to popularity, television ratings and number of fans willing to travel en mass to their bowl destinations. Factors the Orange Bowl ignored last season when they selected the Hawkeyes and suffered yet another ratings beatdown among fellow BCS bowls, but weren’t lost on Outback Bowl officials this season.

“When you talk about tradition and history of college football it just doesn’t get any better than Penn State and the University of Florida,” said Outback Bowl President/CEO Jim McVay. “It’s our 25th anniversary game and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate it on New Year’s Day than with Coach Paterno’s Nittany Lions and Coach Urban Meyer’s Gators.”

The Outback Bowl selection will continue one of the most successful runs by any college football program in the nation. Penn State now holds a 58-18 (76.3) record since 2005 (#10 winning percentage over that span) which includes 2 Big Ten championships / BCS appearances and an Outback Bowl appearance will mark the fifth New Year’s Day bowl in the last 6 seasons. An impressive run especially during a rebuilding year when Penn State started just 8 senior starters (4 off, 3 def, 1 kicker).

Go State! Beat the Gators!