TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Bobby Bowden will coach his final game at Florida State in Jacksonville’s Gator Bowl on New Year’s Day.

Bowl officials announced Sunday that Bowden’s Seminoles will play 18th-ranked West Virginia, the school Bowden left in 1976 to come to Florida State. The Seminoles began their 28-year streak of bowl games in 1982 when they defeated the Mountaineers 32-12 at the Gator Bowl.
Under normal circumstances, Florida State would have fallen to a lower bowl with its 6-6 record, but the possibility of keeping Bowden in Florida for his final game matched against his former school was too much for the Gator Bowl to ignore.
West Virginia is 9-3.
Bowden, 80, announced Tuesday that he would retire after the bowl game.