Orange Bowl

The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935 and celebrated its 75th playing on January 1, 2009. The Orange Bowl, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, are the second-oldest bowl games in the country, behind the Rose Bowl (first played 1902, played annually since 1916). The Orange Bowl is a member of the Bowl Championship Series.

The Orange Bowl hosted the BCS National Championship Game in 2001 and 2005. However, since the 2006 season, the BCS National Championship Game has been a stand-alone event, hosted by the local bowl organization one week following the New Year's Day bowl games (including the Orange Bowl). In other words, under the current BCS format, the Orange Bowl Committee hosted two games in 2009: the 2009 Orange Bowl on January 1 and the 2009 BCS National Championship Game on January 8, both at Sun Life Stadium.

Since 2007 the Orange Bowl has been host to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) champion unless they are involved in the national championship game and has used the brand Home of the ACC Champion.

The 2012 match-up ended with the West Virginia Mountaineers, which shared the 2011 Big East title, defeating the ACC champion Clemson Tigers 70-33. West Virginia set numerous records in the game, including most points scored by one team in a bowl game in college history.

The game is officially known as the Discover Orange Bowl, since Discover Financial was announced as title sponsor on August 26, 2010 as part of a new four year agreement. The game had been called the FedEx Orange Bowl from 1989 to 2010, as FedEx sponsored the event during that period. Starting with the 2010-2011 season, ESPN carried the Orange Bowl, replacing Fox after four seasons. ABC aired the game from 1999 to 2006, with CBS (1995–1998) and NBC (1964–1994) previously carrying the game.