| FTBL Around the SEC: Bowl Tie-Ins; Who, where?

[TerryP]

While this is by no means definitive in regard to IF Alabama gets invited to a bowl or which one at this point we can narrow down a few possibilities; or if you choose, wishes.

First, a quick look on how this shakes out within the SEC itself. The SEC office does have a little weight when it comes to which team goes to which bowl. But, just because Mike Slive and his staff may want a particular team to play in a certain bowl game, it is ultimately left up to the bowl game officials themselves.

A case in point is the 2005-'06 Cotton Bowl where Alabama played Texas Tech. SEC officials along with Les Miles and Skip Bertman traveled to Dallas the Thursday night before their meeting with Georgia the following Saturday in the SECCG. At that point, there had been little, if any, contact between LSU officials and Cotton Bowl officials. Despite their pleas for the Cotton Bowl officials to consider LSU if they lost to UGA (they did) the Cotton Bowl decided to go with their earlier word and invite Alabama. The credit with that situation goes entirely to Coach Moore who had lobbied the Cotton Bowl officials long before that week to host Alabama even if we had a worse record than LSU.

Now, on to today...

At this point, it looks like almost a definite the SEC will send two teams to the BCS bowls. One, the winner of the SECCG this weekend between Tennessee and LSU. The second team should be Georgia who likely move up from their BCS ranking last week at #8.

Since there aren't any implications on the National Championship picture at this point the winner of the SECCG should end up in the Sugar Bowl versus one of the at-large bids. Where Georgia ends up is anyone's guess, but we can subtract two teams from the 8 bowl tie-ins the conference has.

That leaves the losing team of the SECCG as the probable team for the Capital One bowl. This bowl, after the BCS picks are made, must pick the team with the next best overall record or a team that is within one win of the team with the next best overall record.

Selections 3-5 are a bit more complicated. These bowls include the Chick-Fil-A, Cotton and Outback bowl. The Cotton and Outback have the first selections with the Cotton have first dibs on the West and the Outback first in the East. Here's the kicker. IF either bowl selects to go to another division (IE: Cotton picks from the East) they have to wait until the Outback chooses a team from the East.

Logic would seem to indicate the Outback would choose Florida. What the Cotton decides to do is where a question lies. Instead of inviting UK at 7-5 they will probably make a choice between Auburn and Arkansas. When you consider that Auburn represented the SEC in the Cotton Bowl last year, again using logic, one would think they would invite Arkansas so they wouldn't have the same team in back to back years. The Chick-Fil-A bowl would be left with the last choice and would probably take an 8-4 West team over a 7-5 East team, in this case UK.

The 6th and 7th picks for the Liberty and Music City bowl are not done in any particular order and are in conjunction with the SEC office. Considering the locations in Memphis (Liberty) and Nashville (Music City) one could expect MSU to go to Memphis and UK to go to Nashville.

NOW, is where it becomes sticky. The 8th bowl tie in is with the Independence Bowl. There are two teams left in the SEC that are eligible; South Carolina and Alabama. (A win this weekend would have had us in strong consideration for Chick-Fil-A)

What the SEC office and the Independence Bowl officials decide is anyone's guess. One would think revenue would be a deciding factor. One would also think that Alabama being closer would also be a factor. Would Saban returning to a bowl game in Louisiana have any bearing? I don't know.

Last, but not least, there is always the possibility there aren't enough eligible teams around the NCAA to fill all of the bowl obligations. That's a scenario I haven't looked into.

Schedules, times, locations and Networks carrying this years Bowl Season:




* CAPITAL ONE BOWL
Jan. 1 • 1 p.m. ET • ABC Sports
Orlando, Fla. • Florida Citrus Bowl (65,438)
Teams: SEC vs. Big Ten



* AT&T COTTON BOWL
Jan. 1 • 11:30 a.m. ET • FOX Sports
Dallas, Texas • The Cotton Bowl (68,252)
Teams: SEC vs. Big 12

* CHICK-FIL-A BOWL
Dec. 30 • 8 p.m. ET • ESPN
Atlanta, Ga. • Georgia Dome (71,228)
Teams: SEC vs. ACC

* OUTBACK BOWL
Jan. 1 • 11 a.m. ET • ESPN
Tampa, Fla. • Raymond James Stadium (65,657)
Teams: SEC vs. Big Ten



* AUTOZONE LIBERTY BOWL
Dec. 29 • 4:30 p.m. ET • ESPN
Memphis, Tenn. • Liberty Bowl Stadium (62,338)
Teams: SEC vs. Conference USA

* GAYLORD HOTELS MUSIC CITY BOWL
presented by Bridgestone
Dec. 29 • 1 p.m. ET • ESPN
Nashville, Tenn. • The Coliseum (67,000)
Teams: SEC vs. ACC


* INDEPENDENCE BOWL
Dec. 28 • 4:30 p.m. ET • ESPN
Shreveport, La. • Independence Stadium (50,459)
Teams: SEC vs. Big 12

 

[JoshB]

you know, i said if Alabama lost to Auburn then i didnt want them to go to a bowl, but now i have sat back and thought about it...i really do. i dont want these seniors last memory at Bama to be 4 straight losses, 1 of them to a Sun Belt team and of course Auburn. id like for us to be able to give guys like Simeon Castille, Darren Mustin, DJ Hall, Justin Britt, Wallace Gillbery, etc. a win to end their careers.

 

[Hightideiscoming]

Do you all think that those in charge of making the decisions for bowls factor in that even with a bad record, an Alabama bowl team can still bring a large crowd with them?

 

[Paradox]

Do you all think that those in charge of making the decisions for bowls factor in that even with a bad record, an Alabama bowl team can still bring a large crowd with them?

I would think so. The bottom line is, bowls need to profit, and a guaranteed sellout would be the easiest way to ensure that.

 

[TerryP]

you know, i said if Alabama lost to Auburn then i didnt want them to go to a bowl, but now i have sat back and thought about it...i really do. i dont want these seniors last memory at Bama to be 4 straight losses, 1 of them to a Sun Belt team and of course Auburn. id like for us to be able to give guys like Simeon Castille, Darren Mustin, DJ Hall, Justin Britt, Wallace Gillbery, etc. a win to end their careers.

I can understand your feelings here and while I won't go into details on why I don't find myself in the same boat, I'll go into why I like the the bowl possibility.

Practice. Pure and simple.

You have to understand how Saban approaches bowl games. It isn't a situation where he's focused on the bowl game these next 4 weeks before the end of the year/New Years bowl games kick. It's all about a pre-spring camp.

His focus would be more on those who'll be seeing playing time next year, developing talent we have now in the freshman and sophomore classes.

If things work out the way I suspect they will we are going to see a lot of very young players seeing a lot of playing time next season. We are going to see somewhat of a replay on message forums in the football season as well with people questioning "why isn't this person, or that person" getting more playing time.

Remember, sometimes you have to tear something down before you can rebuild it. As evidenced this year, this isn't simply remodeling job.

 

[TerryP]

Do you all think that those in charge of making the decisions for bowls factor in that even with a bad record, an Alabama bowl team can still bring a large crowd with them?

I have no doubt, in my mind, they can. Did anyone in Alabama expect to see a team in '01 that could compete with the likes of Oklahoma, as example? Yet, it surely didn't stop the 300+ of our RV Nation show up in Norman. And, that's not even including the number of tickets sold. That simply the number of vehicles.

History has shown, even with dismal seasons and lower tier bowls our fan base still shows up in droves.

I'm not saying South Carolina wouldn't in this case. But, I do think we'd have more Alabama fans than they would simply because of the location and how closer it is to AL than SC.

 

[planomateo]

i was at the Independence Bowl game last year. I was disappointed in the lack of emotions by the fans at that game.

there were numerous times that the fans were just silent and they should have been rockin', but that is my opinion.

I would love to see us at the Independence Bowl again - of course it's only a 3 hour drive for me

 

[TerryP]

i was at the Independence Bowl game last year. I was disappointed in the lack of emotions by the fans at that game.

there were numerous times that the fans were just silent and they should have been rockin', but that is my opinion.

I would love to see us at the Independence Bowl again - of course it's only a 3 hour drive for me

It was a very difficult time for Alabama fans at that time as well. Interim coach, not knowing who was next in line...

 

[ACL11190]

Alabama will always bring a big crowd, we have a huge fanbase.

 

[flying Elephant]

Do you all think that those in charge of making the decisions for bowls factor in that even with a bad record, an Alabama bowl team can still bring a large crowd with them?

I would think so. The bottom line is, bowls need to profit, and a guaranteed sellout would be the easiest way to ensure that.

We could probably use the money as well. When I was on the track team and we didn't get to a bowl game we had to ride the bus and the number of shoes we got for the season were also cut down.
RTR

 

[TerryP]

Do you all think that those in charge of making the decisions for bowls factor in that even with a bad record, an Alabama bowl team can still bring a large crowd with them?

I would think so. The bottom line is, bowls need to profit, and a guaranteed sellout would be the easiest way to ensure that.

We could probably use the money as well. When I was on the track team and we didn't get to a bowl game we had to ride the bus and the number of shoes we got for the season were also cut down.
RTR

What year was that?

I'm guessing, by your age being 30, you were in school from '95-'99? At that point, bowl revenues were split between all the SEC teams. I don't see it being related.

 

[Guest]

Bowl?

Well, what does everyone think? Do we get left out or do we go, and if we go, where do we end up? We have the same record as South Carolina, and one win less than Kentucky, but we have a better SEC record than both, so I say we go. Looks like Music City, Liberty or Independance I guess. I'm kinda hoping for Liberty since I live in Memphis, but Music City would be an easy drive also. :lol:

 

[imported_Porter]

Re: Bowl?

Well, what does everyone think? Do we get left out or do we go, and if we go, where do we end up? We have the same record as South Carolina, and one win less than Kentucky, but we have a better SEC record than both, so I say we go. Looks like Music City, Liberty or Independance I guess. I'm kinda hoping for Liberty since I live in Memphis, but Music City would be an easy drive also. :lol:

Terry's post clears it up as good as it can be, but in a nut shell, UK, by rule, will be picked ahead of us. It will come down to us and USC for the final SEC bowl slot (the Indy Bowl). If something really strange happened, maybe we could end up in the Liberty, but my money is on Shreveport.

 

[TerryP]

Re: Bowl?

Well, what does everyone think? Do we get left out or do we go, and if we go, where do we end up? We have the same record as South Carolina, and one win less than Kentucky, but we have a better SEC record than both, so I say we go. Looks like Music City, Liberty or Independance I guess. I'm kinda hoping for Liberty since I live in Memphis, but Music City would be an easy drive also. :lol:

Terry's post clears it up as good as it can be, but in a nut shell, UK, by rule, will be picked ahead of us. It will come down to us and USC for the final SEC bowl slot (the Indy Bowl). If something really strange happened, maybe we could end up in the Liberty, but my money is on Shreveport.

IF, perchance, we get invited to the Liberty Bowl I suspect we'll see a lot of MSU fans upset about the selection. In some ways, rightfully so.

There isn't a big difference in the payouts. Based on '06 numbers the Liberty Bowl paid the teams 300K more than the Independence Bowl.

Having lived in Mphs. and been to Shreveport I would rather have the bowl game in the Liberty. If you take you time and look, there is a hell of a lot you can do in Mphs.

FWIW, all of this will be answered by Sunday Afternoon. However, we should be early word at the end of this week.

 

[Guest]

Bowl Game?

Shreveport again? I heard Tom Roberts mention 3 different bowls this morning: Independance, Music City, and some new bowl played in TCU's stadium.

 

[Guest]

What about the Butt Bowl in Johnsonville?

 

[TerryP]

What about the Butt Bowl in Johnsonville?

You would have my vote for MVP. :lol:

 

[Guest]

The easy answer is yes, Bama needs to play in a bowl game. The reasons are extra practice time, redshirts and young kids will get reps they would not see until the spring, the offense and defense can fine tune some things. Give coaches time and they can plan and skeem for just about anything.

 

[NJ BAMA FAN]

Bowls

A few Bama Questions?

Last week I asked the following:

If we go 2-0 over the next two games what Bowl game would we get into and what whom would we play?

Same question if we go 1-1.

Now that there’s a remote possibility we’ll go 0-2 or 6-6 overall which one do we go to and whom will we play?

Shreveport?
Memphis?

Let’s suppose Arkansas, S. Carolina, Miss. St. and Kentucky all fall this weekend then which bowl game do we go to?

Lastly, let’s say we get in to one of these “baby” bowl games and drop a close one to, oh I don’t know; Rutgers; was it all worth it? What was Shula’s record in year one?

Now that all this has happened, my next question is: How much did we have to pay to get rid of Shula?

I really wanted to see them in the Music City Bowl; it’s only 850 miles for me to drive! Is there any chance they could be invited to something really strange like the one in Charlotte, NC. It’s a great stadium and only about 12 hours for me. Last year, wasn’t there a bowl game in Wash. DC? Is that the one they moved up to Toronto; International Bowl?

Has anyone seen the 08 schedule? I thought they were going to dump UTEP and add Clemson. Charlotte is a great neutral field!!!!

 

[TerryP]

Re: Bowls

A few Bama Questions?

Last week I asked the following:

If we go 2-0 over the next two games what Bowl game would we get into and what whom would we play?

Same question if we go 1-1.

Now that there’s a remote possibility we’ll go 0-2 or 6-6 overall which one do we go to and whom will we play?

Shreveport?
Memphis?

Let’s suppose Arkansas, S. Carolina, Miss. St. and Kentucky all fall this weekend then which bowl game do we go to?

Lastly, let’s say we get in to one of these “baby” bowl games and drop a close one to, oh I don’t know; Rutgers; was it all worth it? What was Shula’s record in year one?

Now that all this has happened, my next question is: How much did we have to pay to get rid of Shula?

I really wanted to see them in the Music City Bowl; it’s only 850 miles for me to drive! Is there any chance they could be invited to something really strange like the one in Charlotte, NC. It’s a great stadium and only about 12 hours for me. Last year, wasn’t there a bowl game in Wash. DC? Is that the one they moved up to Toronto; International Bowl?

Has anyone seen the 08 schedule? I thought they were going to dump UTEP and add Clemson. Charlotte is a great neutral field!!!!

Shula: His buyout is divided over a period of years minus what he's making at Jacksonville. A few weeks ago I tried to find info on what he was getting paid in Jacksonville but didn't have any luck.

Clemson isn't a done deal as of yet...but it's close. And, it looks like it'll be in ATL instead of Charlotte.