Big East bowl may debut Dec. 21, 2008 in St. Pete

[Joe]

Another bad bowl deal for the BE...

[GarySJ]

A 6-6 USF team against, say, a 9-3 Southern Miss or 8-4 ECU?  Why not?

Because 9-3 Southern Miss and 8-4 ECU would never be available to the new game. They'd be picked first by one of the six other bowl games Conference USA ("We suck at everything except getting bowl tie-ins") has lined up for itself. Until further notice, this game is looking at the seventh-place C-USA team. And last year's sixth-place C-USA team would finished no better than tied for third in the Sun Belt.

No thanks. Noooooooo thanks. Hell, I'd prefer the #2 Sun Belt team to the #7 C-USA team. Troy was pretty good last year.

Tranghese needs to tell ESPN to get a Big East-ACC game or the league's not interested. The ACC needs more and better bowl tie-ins anyway. Why should Georgia Tech have to fly to Boise and San Francisco to lose crappy bowl games when they can lose crappy bowl games a few hours' drive away?

One other point: do you really want other Big East teams telling their Florida recruiting targets that they can play an extra game in their home state, in USF's backyard? Screw that.

[BullsFanInTX]

If it replaced the PJ.com bowl I guess it would be ok, a very slight improvement over Bham.  Otherwise, The BE should grow a backbone and let it be known that if CUSA is the opponent, there will be no BE.  WE do not need a 2nd bowl game against arguably the worst conference in D1A outside of the sunbelt conf.  I'd rather see a 3rd bowl game against the ACC, they should jump at the chance to get out of their western bowls (for example, humanitarian bowl). 

[bulls96go]

why not a mwc, or pac 10 ect?

[ProudBull]

Another bad bowl deal for the BE...

My thoughts excatly.  Our tie-in's are really bad now, why add to it.  If we go 6-6 then I think that we deserve to stay at home or hope that something works our way like every other BCS conference.  Playing bad teams only gives those teams chances to beat us.

[USF-PMR]

Shoot for a better seed in other conference if possible - we will be tired of whipping ACC or SEC teams.

[Joe]

I think the problem with attracting an ACC team is money. The Emerald and Humanitarian pay out a lot more than this games, plus the respect angle of playing before Christmas. If I'm correct, I think both the ACC's west games are after Christmas.

Anyways, I don't care for it...ya it's great for the fans, but imagine congratulating the players on a good season now you get to stay home and play. Bowl games should also reward the players.

Eh, we knew this was coming, so I guess we should take it in stride.

[Guest]

Joe -- Yes, both Emerald and Humanitarian bowls pay more (thanks to sponsors) and they are both after Christmas.

ProudBull -- A 6-6 USF team could be slated for the International Bowl, if you go with the "hope that something works out" model. Personally, I'd rather play in St. Pete than Toronto.

---

Gary - as usual - comes up with some good points that I had not considered.  The 2nd place Sun Belt team would not be a terrible match up for the #7 Big East team in a pre-Christmas game... and I had not really thought about the implications on recruiting.

Then again, with all of the Bowl Games in Florida, it's hard for me to see how this really impacts recruiting.  Rich Rodriguez could (now) tell a prospect that the Big Ten has 3 bowl games in Florida... the ACC also has 3 for Butch Davis or Tommy Bowden... the Big East may not have any bowl games in Florida for the next two years (Big 12 &/or Notre Dame)...

CJL could use the St. Pete game as another selling point... "Your family could even come to see you in a Bowl Game..." -- hard to say that with B'ham or Charlotte...

JMHO.

[deathrow95]

  I think the idea here is est the bowl as a replacement for the pizza bowl and upgrade our other bowl tie ins.  With a Acc tie in down the road.

[BadBull]

another bad idea brought to you by idiots of the big east

no wonder bc,vt and um left these clowns

Are those the same idiots who brought USF and Louisville into the BE?  :Duh