Navy's already accepted a bowl bid for the initial EagleBank Bowl Dec. 20 @ RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C....

are you sure there is no longer a rule about taking Notre Dame if someone has two or more wins?

Trained Goose negotiated (sold out the BE) Gator / Sun deal with ND included in that package and the rest of of the BE Bowl in order to secure the bowls the BE currently has. In short ND was given access to the whole BE Bowl package to save the GATOR Bowl. ND also has an option to take the Cotton Bowl once in 4 years. The best scenario for the BE in this case is to have ND BCS eligible or to have them pick the Cotton over the Gator/sun when they are are not BCS eligible. Other wise they better not be bowl eligible at all for the BE teams to garner in all the bowls they negotiated. My prediction for this year is:

Pitt - BCS - 6-1 : 10-2
Cinn - Gator/Sun 5-2 : 10-3
WV - Meinkee - 5-2: - 8-4
Rutgers - St. Pete - 5-2 : 7-5 (Weak start - Strong finish - Keep Chopp'n)
Conn - Toronto - 3-4 : 7-5
USF -Birmingham - 2 -5 : 7-5 if the opponent is a SB team - at large if the oppenent is an SEC team.
ND - Birmingham (if SEC opponent is available) 6 - 6

Lville sits home 1-6 : 5-7
Cuse sits home 1-6 : 2-10

If the Gator takes ND at 7 &5 or the Sun takes the mat 6 & 6 eveyone atfer the BCS drop one bowl and USF is definitely an at large team.

Cincinatti vs FSU in Orange
West Va vs Wake Forrest in Mienkie
Conn vs Buffalo in International
USF vs Memphis in St Pete
Pitt vs Troy in Papa John's
Rutgers vs Hous in Tex
There my guesses

My best bet right now
BCS: Pitt
Sun : Cincy
Meineke: West Virginia
St Pete: USF
Toronto:UConn
Bham:Louisville-Rutgers
I think Gator will take Big12 this year. Meineke will choose WV if they dont make BCS., Sun bowl will take Pitt or Cincy they have good local support and theyll go with higher ranked again.
St Pete will choose local team
and Toronto makes more sense for UConn fans than Bham

and Notre Dame will be @ home watching it all unfold...

Who would Bulls face in St. Pete Bowl?
November 10, 2008

Of course, there are still three Bulls games to be played, but all signs point to USF being a match for the inaugural St. Petersburg Bowl at Tropicana Field on Dec. 20.

There are other unlikely scenarios, both to the good and bad extremes -- the Bulls have not been mathematically eliminated from the Big East's BCS berth, strange as that seems, and the Bulls wouldn't be guaranteed a trip to St. Pete if they lost their three remaining games. Even though USF would be ideal for the new bowl from an attendance standpoint, the bowl can't select a 6-6 team if there's a 7-win team still available, which could still happen.

My question, then, is this: Who would the Bulls likely play in St. Petersburg? Again, it's complicated. Conference USA has a contract with St. Pete, but the conference has six bowl affiliations and might not have six bowl-eligible teams. The C-USA champ goes to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, and the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala., gets its pick of the rest of the league.

After that, there are four bowls -- the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, the Texas Bowl in Houston, the New Orleans Bowl and the St. Petersburg Bowl -- with no predetermined order aside from logical geography preferences to help the bowls and teams for optimal attendance.

Three C-USA teams are already bowl-eligible -- Tulsa is a heavy favorite to win the league with a 5-0 conference record and average margin of 27.2 points in those wins. East Carolina and Rice are also bowl-eligible, and I'd think East Carolina (with wins against Virginia Tech and West Virginia) is ahead of Rice, which has yet to beat a team with a winning record. That leaves five teams trying to fill the last three spots. I'll put them in order of likelihood to get to six wins:

Memphis (5-5): Remaining opponents are UCF and Tulane, both 2-7, so it'd be a massive collapse for the Tigers not to be bowl-eligible. Count them in as the fourth bowl team.

Houston (5-4): Despite winning four of five, the Cougars will probably fall to Tulsa on Saturday. A win against UTEP (4-5) would get them to six, or a crosstown win at Rice on Nov. 29. That'd give C-USA five bowl teams.

UTEP (4-5): Will beat 1-9 SMU this week, but will need a road win at Houston or East Carolina -- they've allowed at least 34 points in all their losses, but can score, as seen by 58-point outburst against UCF. Probably a little less than 50-50 to get to six wins.

Marshall (4-5): Needs to beat UCF this week, then get an upset, either at Rice or against Tulsa. I'm guessing they're 5-7 and just missing the boat.

Southern Miss (4-6): Since a five-game losing streak, they've won two straight and actually played some defense, holding UAB and UCF to a combined 20 points. If they can beat East Carolina at home this week, they'd have to just avoid a letdown in the last game against SMU.

If C-USA doesn't have six bowl teams, it's hard to say which bowl they pass on. The Texas Bowl (Dec. 30) and Armed Forces Bowl (Dec. 31) are more visible post-Christmas bowls, and Rice and Houston would have solid in-state crowds for those games. If Memphis or Southern Miss is deemed a regional match for New Orleans, that could leave out St. Pete, whose best bet might be to see East Carolina drop a game or two (helping another team get bowl-eligible) and fall into their lap.

And if C-USA can't provide a team, St. Pete's backup plan is the Sun Belt, which sends its champ to New Orleans for the league's only sure bowl tie-in. The winner of Troy vs. Louisiana Lafayette should win the league, so that game's loser could be a contingency team for St. Pete. The other options? Florida Atlantic, Arkansas State and Florida International are all 4-5 and possibilities.

The best scenario for St. Pete would seem to be East Carolina, though again, it seems entirely possible that Conference USA can't fulfill its contract and the bowl opens with a Sun Belt team -- Florida Atlantic would probably ideal from that group. Thoughts? Predictions?

This article appeared in the St. Petersburg Times on Monday, November 10, 2008.

The Bulls should bring a huge crowd to the game. It's a short trip. That would be a huge boon to the image The BEast...

Stealing bowl invitations the Notre Dame way
By Mike DiMauro, Day Assistant Sports Editor
Published on 11/13/2008

Not that loyalists of the Big East would ever think of singing spirituals anymore with the Boston College faithful, but the BC students and bald Eagles in the sellout crowd Saturday night in Chestnut Hill unwittingly scored one for their former brethren.

”If (the BC taunts) had been something playful (”overrated”), something childish (”nah-nah-nah-nah, hey, hey, hey, goodbye”), even something rhetorical (”Who's your daddy?”), maybe they wouldn't have been so stinging, so penetrating,” the South Bend Tribune reported.

Instead it was, “Where's your heart? Where's your heart?”

It's a question Notre Dame may have to answer again. This time to the Big East.

And if past performance determines how the Sultans of Sanctimony act - their heart is right next to their wallet - they'll ensure that most Big East football programs get some form of The Shaft.

If Notre Dame has any heart, or at least more than it has shown on the field this season, it will decline any bowl invitation that could alter the bowl destinations of other Big East schools.

Fancy this one: The agreement in place stipulates that the second-place finisher from the Big East goes to the Gator Bowl. There is a chance that Pittsburgh finishes second this season. The same Pittsburgh which defeated Notre Dame in South Bend. But Notre Dame goes to the Gator Bowl.

Why? Because it can. Because if the Irish finish within two wins of the Big East's No. 2 team, they can take the bowl slot, per the agreement in the bowl contract. It's likely Notre Dame finishes 7-5 and Pittsburgh has no more than nine wins.

Forget about making the argument about the wisdom of the agreement. Outgoing Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese told espn.com recently that “If we didn't include Notre Dame in our contract, the (bowl agreements) that we currently have don't exist. I know our fans and sometimes our own coaches don't want to hear that, but it's true.”

But the question remains: Just because Notre Dame could play in the Gator Bowl, should it?

The Big East needed Notre Dame to get better bowl slots. In exchange, Notre Dame has been allowed to remain independent in football and keep its football revenues.

How could officials from Notre Dame sit at the same table as Pittsburgh at league meetings knowing that they stole a New Year's Day bowl away from a more deserving program that could really use the exposure?

Notre Dame football, despite a national recruiting base and an exclusive network television contract, is 8-13 in its last 21 games. The Irish are 1-15 in their last 16 games against programs with winning records. They haven't won a bowl game since 1994. Notre Dame has become more about punchlines than offensive lines. A few oldies but goodies:

What does Notre Dame have in common with marijuana? They both get smoked in a bowl.

How do you make Notre Dame cookies? Place ingredients in a bowl and beat for three hours.

Chicago newspapers reported Tuesday that Charlie Weis - “Pear” Bryant as some people call him - is no lock to keep his job.

And wouldn't this be perfect: Notre Dame gets crushed at Southern Cal later this month, cans Weis, and with a fraudulent 7-5 record, plays on New Year's Day. All while Pittsburgh plays in a lesser bowl. And if Pittsburgh plays in a lesser bowl, so does everyone else in the Big East.

”There is not a team with the national appeal of Notre Dame,” Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett told the South Bend Tribune. “If we get the opportunity to get them, I don't know how we could pass on them.”

But this gets better.

The Cotton Bowl could swap a Southeastern Conference school for Notre Dame. So there's a chance the Cotton Bowl and Gator Bowl could fight over a 7-5 team.

”Basically,” Cotton Bowl president Rick Baker told espn.com, “Notre Dame would get to pick.”

It's here you wonder if college football can keep the Irish out of the BCS title game.

Would Notre Dame do the right thing to accommodate its Big East brethren this season?

Nah. Has Notre Dame ever done anything that's not in the best interest of Notre Dame?

This article appeared in the New London Day on Thursday, November 13, 2008.

"The Big East needed Notre Dame to get better bowl slots. In exchange, Notre Dame has been allowed to remain independent in football and keep its football revenues."

Haha. Is this guy serious about this crap?

rferry Wrote:"The Big East needed Notre Dame to get better bowl slots. In exchange, Notre Dame has been allowed to remain independent in football and keep its football revenues."

Haha. Is this guy serious about this crap?

It's time to cut Notre Dame loose and add an all-sports members.

Notre Dame helps the Big East secure bowls? What an absolute joke.

Did anyone read the reader comments at the bottom of the article from the New London Day? I think the reader named Eudora from Waterbury may be on to something.

Eudora of Waterbury, CT, on the New London Day website Wrote:It's actually worse than what Mike says. The Big East has 6 bowls (BCS, Gator or Sun, Muffler, St. Pete, Pizza, and Toronto). Imagine this scenario: Cincy goes to BCS at 10-3, WVU 9-3, Pitt 8-4, USF 7-5, UConn 7-5, Louisville 6-6, Rutgers 6-6. Gator has second pick but ABSTAINS initially. Muffler picks WVU, St. Pete picks USF, Pizza picks Pitt, Toronto picks UConn. Two 6-6 teams remain. Notre Dame is also 6-6. The Gator says they have finally made up their mind and they take, of course, Notre Dame. Louisville and Rutgers have to beg for at-large bids in places like Boise and Detroit and can only get them if there are no 7-5 MAC, WAC, CUSA, or Sun Belt teams available. That is the ultimate screwjob and I bet it's 100% legal since there is no rule saying bowls can't ABSTAIN during the selection process.

That would suck but I bet bowl rules probably would allow the Gator Bowl to do what the commenter suggests in passing, waiting, and then taking 6-6 Notre Dame last.

Notre Dame won't win 6 games. They'll tank the rest of the season. You watch...