Steve Erhart, the man in charge of the Liberty Bowl, was on the radio here in Memphis and told the Tigers radio annoucer, "You'll be happy, suprised, and pleased when we announce all the pieces..... " He indicated that Memphis or CUSA was gonna remained invovled but he also avoided the details. Don't know if there is a planned annoucement anytime soon. If I had to guess and that's all it would be, a guess, then I would say it's gonna be CUSA vs. SEC. The SEC seems to be backing off it's statement that it won't play non-BCS schools in bowl games.

I still think it might be a 4 year deal with the SEC and a scenario similar to the Sun and Gator whereby C-USA plays 2 of the 4 years and the Big East plays 2 of the 4 years. I stated that as a possibility a few weeks ago and was roundly criticized on this very message board.

I agree that it will probadly be a configuration of C-USA, SEC and BE. Just by the wording in his statement of "pieces"

Could the Houston Bowl also be part of your proposed arrangement?

Liberty Bowl and Houston Bowl share #1 C-USA and #3 Big East for the next four years?

Another possibility...a tie in with the University of Memphis similar to the arrangement that Hawaii has with the Aloha Bowl. I'm just telling you what I'm hearing. The only thing I know for sure is that the Liberty Bowl wants the SEC.

So as long as Memphis is bowl-eligible, it plays in the Liberty?

WacoBearcat Wrote:So as long as Memphis is bowl-eligible, it plays in the Liberty?

I doubt that would be the deal.

basically I would be happy with any arrangement, as long as the BE is involved. If not, we will need to do some serious work getting another bowl slot. We'll see what happens... sounds like maybe another Gator Bowl-style deal, with the Houston bowl being involved.

Such short memories. Look at <a href='http://www.ncaabbs.com/forums/bigeast/invision/index.php?act=ST&f=22&t=8485' target='_blank'>http://www.ncaabbs.com/forums/bigeast/invi...=ST&f=22&t=8485</a> please.

Krocker Krapp Wrote:Your idea actually isn't that bad, TopCoog. Let's suppose the SEC always anchors the Liberty Bowl and the Big 12 always anchors the Houston Bowl. Then the Big East and CUSA rotate between those two bowls. We would end up with the following arrangement ...

2006: Liberty = SEC vs. Big East ... Houston = Big 12 vs. CUSA.
2007: Liberty = SEC vs. CUSA ... Houston = Big 12 vs. Big East.

2008: Liberty = SEC vs. Big East ... Houston = Big 12 vs. CUSA.
2009: Liberty = SEC vs. CUSA ... Houston = Big 12 vs. Big East.

I think those two bowls would be smart enough to accomodate each other if Memphis or Houston become eligible for their hometown bowl. The SEC will always supply plenty of fans for the Liberty and the Big 12 for Houston, so other teams should not be an issue.

That was followed up with information from a friend of mine who actually did something other than read posts.

Krocker Krapp Wrote:A friend of mine e-mailed Steve Ehrhart and Mike Tranghese to suggest the Liberty/Houston bowl sharing arrangement TopCoog and I were kicking around above. He says Tranghese wrote back, thanked him for sending in his thoughts, and said that is indeed one of the many options the sides are discussing right now.

For all you Tranghese bashers out there ... he's obviously very busy ... but the fact that he wrote back to a regular fan to say thanks and to answer his question about a bowl game negotiation really shows me that Tranghese really is a decent guy overall. I think he is somewhat in tune with the fans and wants us happy.

So a Liberty/Houston deal, like the Gator/Sun deal, was toyed with for a while, as Tranghese confirmed.

If the memphis guy said they would be happy, obviously the C-USA would be involved.

Another possibility is that the big east gets it one year and the USA has it the other three.

uconnbaseball Wrote:If the memphis guy said they would be happy, obviously the C-USA would be involved.

Or he could be full of siht.

It may only mean they're interested in memphis only, which I don't recall anyone proposing.