Enthusiasm over the Gophers football team playing in a New Year's Day Bowl game against a quality opponent in a warm destination sent many fans online searching for flights ... only to be met with some sticker shock over how much it costs to fly to a warm weather destination like Orlando over New Year's.

As such, dear Gophers fan, I've done some of the work for you: here are three options for getting to the Citrus Bowl to see the Gophers vs. Missouri, all at different price points. All of these itineraries leave Wednesday, Dec. 31 and come back home Sunday, Jan. 4 — you don't want to miss too much work time, but once you're in Orlando (average high temperature in January: 71 degrees) you might as well stay.

• The "money is no object" plan. OK, money is still an object and you don't want to overpay, but you are willing to spend for a direct flight. I found one flight Tuesday, on Delta for $703. It's a direct flight outbound; inbound, it has one stop. If you fly direct both ways on those dates, it's nearly $1,200. Again, if money is no object then have at it.

• The "just get me there in the air" plan. Roll the dice on Expedia.com and keep checking back. On a couple of occasions Tuesday, I saw listed fares on the site for Delta flights (one layover each way) for as low as $337. Those tended to disappear and reappear quickly throughout the day, suggesting quantities were limited.

If you can be flexible with travel dates, you can get the price down to somewhere between $400-$500 (one layover each way) pretty easily. Also, if you are holding out for good deals and are planning to rent a car anyway, check flights to Tampa (85 miles from Orlando) and Jacksonville (140 miles). Prices aren't any better than Orlando now, but that could change.

• The "even with the cheapest route possible, I'm going to be eating ramen noodles for a month" plan. This is also known as the college plan. Or the just out of college plan. Or the "Gophers better win" plan.

Four people leave Minneapolis by car on Dec. 31 at 9 a.m., everyone takes a three-hour driving shift, then repeats, through the night. It's roughly a 1,550-mile drive that is estimated to take about 24 hours. You roll into town in time for the 1 p.m. Eastern kickoff on New Year's Day. Everyone piles into one hotel room (you can find a decent room for $75), you hang out in Orlando for a few days, then drive back Sunday in time for anyone to get to work on Monday. Round trip, everyone pays about $100 for gas and maybe $60 for hotel.