Being a long-time Central Florida resident, I will say this:
If you have never been, go to every event you can. Enjoy to the fullest. Drink and eat like a maniac. Tailagate like a bastard, because 8-dollar in-stadium beers suck ass. But enjoy the hell out of the experience.
Because, two or three years hence, when we are told how "honored" an Outback Bowl invite is, you can skip all the preliminaries and just do the tailgate/game experience. Two/three years later at our NEXT Ourback Bowl, no guilt required when you stay home and tell us Floridians you are sitting it out that year. Trust me, we get it.