Sunbelt has announced they are back ups for the ST, Pete Bowl as well as, PapaJohn Bowl.

Pardon me, but I forgot to include the Independence Bowl also. So, that would make 3 bowl games in which they will be the back up for.

Are bowls still allowed to have backups? I thought that say if the SEC doesn't have a team that all of the 7-5 teams (regardless of conference affiliation) have to be picked before a 6-6 team or did they change this rule.

I remember this being in effect in 2006.

From my understanding, a 6-6 team in your conference can go bowling providing that the bowl is affilated with your conference. However, a 6-6 team can not get an open invitation to outside bowls of their conference if there is a 7-5 team from another conference available. I could be wrong on this though.

seems like a good deal for the Sun Belt.

Backup agreements can be made before the season starts. Once the season has begun, bowls/conferences can not make contingency tie-ins.

7-5 rule is still in effect & thier agreement has to follow the paramaters of the NCAA guidelines. This agreement helps bowls in case thier not enough eligable teams, Helps Sun Belt if there more 7 win teams than at-large.

just what I want to do.....compete all year in the tough BE and then get "rewarded" by "getting" to play a Sunbelt team....pass.

The Sunbelt ain't exactly a pushover any longer either. Their bowl calibur teams have all played SEC competition, and several have won those games.

nice spin Bit, but the real deal is,only BE fans on this board did not see it coming.

The point I was trying to make is that they can be dangerous...

agree, and what's the big deal anyway? st. pete is already vs non bcs. It will be a bummer in pizza, but will probably only come into play if sec gets 2 in bcs. And again pizza was previous vs non bcs anyway. The real story is how the sbc is closing the gap on cusa and the mac.

Bearcats#1 Wrote:just what I want to do.....compete all year in the tough BE and then get "rewarded" by "getting" to play a Sunbelt team....pass.

I seem to remember that cincy got rewarded by getting beat by a Sun Belt team in New Orleans a few years ago.

It's no offense to sun belt....I'm aware they have some solid/tough teams. What I am meaning to say is UC, with 5 bowl games in the past 8 years has yet to play a BCS team in a bowl game and for us the next "step up the ladder" as our program develops is to play/beat a BCS team in a bowl game. Continuing to play and beat or lose to non BCS teams is not getting us anywhere. So for UC, playing a Sunbelt team is NOT what I want....so verdict stands: Pass.

SpaceRaider Wrote:

Bearcats#1 Wrote:just what I want to do.....compete all year in the tough BE and then get "rewarded" by "getting" to play a Sunbelt team....pass.

I seem to remember that cincy got rewarded by getting beat by a Sun Belt team in New Orleans a few years ago.

Ouch, right you are Spacey ... L vs. North Texas in '02 New Orleans Bowl.

I think this deal is perfectly fine for now, but I do agree with Bearcats that the BE needs more BCS competition, it just seem difficult to get it lined up.

West Virginia fans don't worry about lesser bowls at the moment. Y'all can fight over 'em...

Thanks Matt for the info!

I agree while the SBC has some good teams the reality is that the big East team assigned to play there will not be very excited about it and neither will its fan base.

Not very excited, I recall it got pretty ugly. And that was with So Miss, who some people want as BE expansion canidate.

templefootballfan FYI: candidate