Texas Bowl dropped from Big East Lineup

[BullDoug]

Love the PPJ Bowl matchup.  I will probably go back now.  Actually it will be a prefered bowl for me now if a Bulls season is less than perfect.  That is only 'cuz I'm located in windy as fug central tx.  BTW is there a date for the St. Pete Bowl?

[bulls96go]

great!

[nobull.Bulls]

Seriously...

#9 SEC or #3-4 C-USA...what could that decision be?

Kentucky or Alabama

or

Memphis or Southern Miss?

Is that about right based on last year's results?

For our fan base and our program the former is much more attractive than the latter - excpet the delight we would take in beating Southern Miss.

How about the delight of beating Nick Satan and bama

That is tempting.

[GarySJ]

I'm just glad to see bowl games making deals to try to improve the situation for all. I hate all these rigid, nonsensical tie-ins that product dull mismatches, and limit fans' post-season travel options, year after year after year.

[Mama_Bull]

Love the PPJ Bowl matchup.  I will probably go back now.  Actually it will be a prefered bowl for me now if a Bulls season is less than perfect.  That is only 'cuz I'm located in windy as fug central tx.  BTW is there a date for the St. Pete Bowl?

No definite date yet. It will be held sometime between Dec 20 and Dec 23. The original date was scrapped because they didn't want to compete against the Bucs who will be playing in RayJay.

[smazza]

too many bowl games

[Yung Money]

Heres the problem guys, how many times do 9 SEC teams have a good enough record to make bowls anyway? Ole Miss wont be eligible, Vanderbilt lost their best players so their almost certain not to make it so it's down to 10. Arkansas lost McFadden and Felix Jones, they might fall out. Kentucky came back down to earth in the second half of last year, can't see them making a bowl. So that could knock it down to 8.

And honestly, I might be alone in this but I would rather face a 9-3 Southern Miss that went 6-2 in conference play over a 6-6 Kentucky/Arkansas. I understand there is hatred of the CUSA and I know people are going to point at Miss State beating UCF. However most years we wont get to face the SEC team anyway.

[Triple B]

And honestly, I might be alone in this but I would rather face a 9-3 Southern Miss that went 6-2 in conference play over a 6-6 Kentucky/Arkansas.

I'd much rather play any bowl eligible SEC team than a lower tier CUSA team (lower tier CUSA team = not conference champion)

I understand there is hatred of the CUSA

I think it's more disdain than actual hatred...

[GarySJ]

Heres the problem guys, how many times do 9 SEC teams have a good enough record to make bowls anyway?

The SEC failing to provide a team is still a tremendous improvement over an obligation to play a C-USA also-ran. Last year, Cincinnati would have gotten to play South Carolina, which even at 6-6 is a far better opponent than Southern Miss. Ignoring that, the bowl could have chosen an at-large team. They'd have had to take Troy, but they'd have been an adequate opponent. The rules might force the game to take a second-place Sun Belt or MAC team, but how much worse is that than a seventh-place C-USA team? Personally I think it is a good risk.

[Guest]

Bham seems to get the best part of the deal by getting an SEC bowl crowd. If the team playing is [glow=yellow,2,300]Bama or Auburn[/glow]-- they are looking at a sell out-- even if that team had to be mediocre to end up there. Even in a bad year, SEC teams still bring the crowds.

I'm not sold n the St. Pete bowl so much so far-- we'll see how that pans out.

... or Vandy or Ole Miss or Mississippi St or South Carolina or Arkansas or Tennessee or...

You are right about the SEC crowds... which is part of why playing in this game might not be too bad.

---

Gary is right as well... a 2nd place Sun Belt team would not be too bad: Troy would have brought some fans (we drove through Troy on our way to B'ham for the game)... Middle Tennessee State (Murfreesboro) is not that far from Birmingham... and if you doubt what a good Sun Belt team can do on the field -- see our game @ FAU last year.