I was somewhere last night doing something and heard the news about Bobby Bowden. I listened and gathered he’d be allowed to coach the bowl game, which meant he’d be put on a big stage for a final farewell. That, to me, meant Gator Bowl and why not induce a storyline within a story by matching him up against West Virginia.

This was not an original thought.

According to sources familiar with the Gator Bowl Association selection process, it was decided Monday night at a meeting of the selection committee to match the teams under two conditions: that Bowden actually retire as the FSU coach today, as has been widely reported, and that the Seminoles are eligible to be invited to the game, given the outcome of the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game Saturday and the ACC bowl selection guidelines.

So after all of the speculation, it turns out the most important player in WVU’s bowl destination was not Bill Stewart or Bill Stull, not Tony Pike or Tom Savage, but T.K. Wetherell.