Out of the mud How the Peach Bowl rose from third-

The Peach Bowl took a long route to rise to a level of national prominence on par with other major bowl games.Yet the bowl game's journey to the top which continues on Saturday Dana Barros Jersey with the College Football Playoff semifinal matchup between almost never began. It was, quite literally, stuck in the mud.Peach Bowl CEO and president Gary Stokan remembers the grim outlook the bowl faced shortly after its 1985 iteration between unranked Army and Illinois. Former bowl game president Dick Bestwick didn't mince words about the future of the Peach Bowl:"It was after the Illinois-Army game in 1985, which had a foot of mud at Fulton County Stadium and only 22,000 people there," Stokan told Sporting News. "He went to the busine s leaders and said, 'Unle s the corporate support for ticket sales and sponsorship is taken on by the busine s leaders, we're going out of busine s.'"MORE: Former Delta Air Lines president Ron Allen became a major contributor to help save the bowl, which grew in prominence once Stokan took over in 1998. His first Robert Covington Jersey Peach Bowl matchup featured No. 19 Georgia and No. 13 Virginia. He recalls reading headlines from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that referred to the close-to-home Bulldogs playing in a "third-tier bowl game.""That's how we were looked at in our own city: as a third-tier bowl game," Stokan said. "To have risen from that to now be part of the New Year's Day 6 is quite a remarkable comeback story."It's a story that began with Stokan's vision for the bowl, which seemed over the top at the time."In 1998 when I took the job I said, 'My job is to get us in the BCS,'" Stokan said. "We failed to get in the BCS in 2006 when the BCS when to a double-host model with the Rose, Sugar, Orange and the Fiesta. Out of that, we founded the Kickoff Game format."Moving the Peach Bowl indoors to the Georgia Dome in 1994 was one of the first steps, as was the traditional SEC-ACC matchup. Those factors helped land the ESPN TV contract and Chick-Fil-A title sponsor that increased the bowl game's Gerald Henderson Jersey visibility in the '90s. The bowl's first top-10 matchup a 40-3 romp for No. 10 LSU over No. 9 Miami in 2005 was the precursor for the first Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game between No. 24 Alabama and No. 9 Clemson on Aug. 30, 2008.The Peach Bowl gradually increased in prominence, and Stokan credits the staff, volunteers and board for that incremental rise. He believes the charitable donations the Peach Bowl is responsible for $53.8 million since 2002 also played a role in landing that spot in the New Year's Day 6 rotation. The College Football Hall of Fame came to Atlanta in 2014 Moses Malone Jersey , and on Dec. 31, 2014 the matchup between No. 6 TCU and No. 9 Mi si sippi State made it official."We had a vision from the beginning that we wanted to aspire to be along with the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta," Stoak said. "In 2013 when the CFP invited us to join the CFP, we had reached our vision."MORE: Saturday's matchup will mark the second No. 1 vs. No. 4 semifinal at the Peach Bowl. The first occurred in 2016 between No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Washington, a 24-7 win for the Crimson Tide. Saturday also marks the first Playoff semifinal matchup in Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a matchup Stokan believes can produce a record crowd.The Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl extended its contract with the College Football Playoff through 2025-26, and will host semifinals in 2022 and 2025. The latter of those two will come 40 years Nik Stauskas Jersey after the Peach Bowl nearly ended.What happens after that? No matter where the Playoff goes, the Peach Bowl will be part of that conversation. For that, Stokan continues to be thankful."We continue to have an attitude of gratitude," Stokan said. "That's what it is. It goes to show hard work by people as a team really pays off."