Tennessee defensive back Cameron Sutton (23) walks into the end zone after returning a kickoff against Vanderbilt in November in Nashville. The Vols will play Iowa in the Taxslayer Bowl.KNOXVILLE - At various points on Sunday afternoon, it appeared Tennessee likely was heading east or west to any one of three different bowl games.
Instead, the Volunteers will trek south after landing at an off-the-radar destination.
In the program's first bowl appearance since 2010, the Volunteers will play Iowa in the Taxslayer Bowl, the game formerly known as the Gator Bowl, at Everbank Field in Jacksonville on Jan. 2 (3:30 p.m., ESPN).
"The chance to return to a New Year's bowl game in Florida," second-year Tennessee coach Butch Jones said Sunday, "represents another significant step for our program."
Many in and around Tennessee's program expected to land in Memphis at the Liberty Bowl, which didn't hide its desire to host the Vols for the first time in 28 years, or in Charlotte at the Belk Bowl, and speculation even brought the Music City Bowl in Nashville, where Tennessee played in 2010, into play at one point.
Just as it appeared Tennessee was headed to Memphis to face West Virginia, a report from the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville said the Vols were headed there moments before the official announcement.
Tennessee can thank athletic director Dave Hart for getting it into a bowl with a slightly higher profile than some of the other potential destinations.
While Hart was the athletic director at Florida State, the Seminoles played in the Gator Bowl in 2002 and 2005, and Taxslayer Bowl president Rick Catlett, a Florida State graduate, said on a conference call Sunday night he's been good friends with Hart "for a long time" and the two had talked about Tennessee playing in the bowl for "several weeks."
With the Southeastern Conference slotting teams into six bowls in the league's new system, that connection likely played a role in getting the Vols into Jacksonville.
UT's head coach Butch Jones attempts to get an official's attention while playing against Vandy during their game at Vanderbilt's home field in Nashville on Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014."The process is certainly complex, and it is new," Hart said. "I have to give all the credit in the world to the job that our conference did from our commissioner, Mike Slive, through Mark Womack and Larry Templeton, who were heavily involved in the process. They had a tough job to do, and they did it extremely well."
According to an athletic department source, Tennessee will get an initial allotment of 8,000 tickets that it expects to "move through quickly" before requesting more.
Tickets already are on sale directly through the Taxslayer Bowl, whose web site crashed minutes after announcements from the SEC and the bowl confirmed the matchup.
"Traditionally we have two of the best brands in college football, and we're excited about that matchup," Catlett said. "We also have two fan bases that have proven over and over again their support for their teams, not only during the regular season, but clearly at bowl. I think that speaks for itself over the last 25 years.
"We're very excited about having it, and we look forward to EverBank Field being the right atmosphere and being full."
Tennessee played in the Gator Bowl five times, winning in 1957 against Texas A&M, 1966 against Syracuse and 1994 in Virginia Tech, when the game was moved to Gainesville. The Vols lost in the game in 1969 to Florida and 1973 to Texas Tech.
It's the third meeting all-time between the Vols (6-6) and Hawkeyes (7-5), who finished fourth in the Big Ten Conference's West Division. Iowa lost on a last-second field goal to 2-10 Iowa State in September and dropped three of its four conference games by a combined 12 points, the lone blowout a 51-14 loss at Minnesota.
The Hawkeyes beat two bowl teams (Pittsburgh and Illinois) and lost three of their last four games.
"We finished on a disappointing note," 16th-year coach Kirk Ferentz said. "We probably played our best football in a losing effort two games ago against a very good Wisconsin football team, and then lost last week in overtime against a (Nebraska) team that won nine games.
"We're disappointed, certainly, and that's not much fun to end up on the short end of one game or two games in a row. The one great thing about sports is you do have another opportunity to line up and play, and you go back to work and focus on what's in front of you, and that's the attitude I've seen our team take already."
Tennessee's players were leaving the team's complex after a Sunday afternoon practice when Jones called them back for an emergency team meeting. His announcement of the assignment was greeted with cheers and high-fives and hugs inside Tennessee's main team meeting room. Tennessee's roster includes 12 Florida natives.
"Obviously we were very, very excited," Jones said.
"It was," he added, "a great, great day for us."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.