2010 Gator Bowl The 2010 Gator Bowl game was a post - season college football bowl game between the Florida State University Seminoles from the ACC , and the West Virginia University Mountaineers representing the Big East , and was played on Friday , January 1 , 2010 , at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium in Jacksonville , Florida . It was the sixty fifth edition of the bowl game . The game was the last one to be coached by legendary Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden prior to his retirement . Bowden had publicly stated that he would like to coach the game in the state of Florida — which created what amounts to a Florida State home game . Prior to coaching at FSU , Bowden was the head coach at West Virginia . Therefore , many felt that the bowl game would serve as a fitting end to his career . Forty - two of Bowden ' s 389 career wins came at West Virginia between 1970 - 1975 . He was West Virginia ' s offensive coordinator for four seasons before becoming the head coach . Gator Bowl officials confirmed to " The News & Observer " of Raleigh , North Carolina that if they had the chance , they would select the Seminoles . The main obstacle that surrounded the proposition was that Florida State finished 4 - 4 in ACC play . Under normal conditions , had Georgia Tech lost the ACC Championship Game to Clemson and been passed over for the Chick - fil - A Bowl then it would have been difficult for the Gator Bowl not to choose Georgia Tech because of the ACC ' s rule that states , " a team cannot be passed for consideration by an ACC bowl partner for a team more than one loss behind in the conference standings . " In this case , the Gator Bowl would have theoretically not been able to pass over Georgia Tech , Clemson and Virginia Tech in favor of Florida State . However , Gator Bowl officials stated that under the same contract the bowl only has to invite the ACC title game loser once in four years , which it did with Georgia Tech in 2007 . Both Florida State and West Virginia had played in the Gator Bowl six times prior to this game . The two teams met in the Gator Bowl on two prior occasions , first in 1982 with FSU winning 31 - 12 and then again in 2005 with the Seminoles winning 30 - 18 . The 1982 game was the start of Florida State ' s current 28 year streak of playing in bowl games . Game summary . Seminoles tailback Jermaine Thomas ran for two touchdowns , Florida State scored 20 straight points to take control and the Seminoles knocked off No . 18 West Virginia 33 - 21 in the final game of Bobby Bowden ' s storied 44 - year career as a head coach . Bowden finished with a 389 - 129 - 4 record , and most importantly to him , a 33rd consecutive winning season . West Virginia took the opening kickoff and scored without much resistance , a 72 - yard , eight - play drive capped by a 32 - yard touchdown rush by starting quarterback Jarrett Brown , who was injured in the second quarter . The Mountaineers went up 14 - 3 on their second possession , after Noel Devine broke off a 70 - yard run to get inside the Florida State 5 , then wound up scoring from 1 yard out . After Jamie Robinson intercepted Brown early in the second quarter , Florida State got back into it on Thomas ' first touchdown of the day , a 12 - yard rush . Dustin Hopkins , who missed a 37 - yard try earlier in the period , connected on a 42 - yard field goal with 8 seconds left in the half , getting the Seminoles within 14 - 13 at the break . After the second - half kickoff was taken 69 yards to the West Virginia 9 , FSU kicked another field goal . Then a Jarmon Fortson ridiculous , leaping , one - handed , 29 - yard catch , Thomas scored from 19 yards out later in the third to give Florida State a 23 - 14 lead into entering the last 15 minutes of Bowden ' s career . Ryan Clarke plunged in from 5 yards away for West Virginia on the first play of the fourth quarter , but the Seminoles answered with a methodical drive to restore the nine - point lead , quarterback E . J . Manuel ' s 2 - yard touchdown burst putting Florida State up 30 - 21 . West Virginia ' s school - record four - game bowl winning streak came to an end with the loss . Florida State won five of its final seven games of the season after a three - game losing streak . In his 33rd and presumably final bowl game , Bobby Bowden won again , bringing his career bowl record to 22 - 10 - 1 . His . 682 bowl winning percentage is the best in NCAA history among coaches to coach in at least 20 bowl games .