Earlier today on an Orlando radio show, the Florida Citrus Sports CEO (in charge of the Champs Sports Bowl and Capital One Bowl) was discussing their preferences for the Champs Sports Bowl (Big East vs ACC) match-up.

To paraphrase:

Top 3 Big East Choices were:
1) Notre Dame
2) Notre Dame
3) Notre Dame

Top 3 ACC Choices were:
1) Florida State
2) Florida State
3) Combo mixture of Va Tech, UVA, Wake and Clemson (maybe ACC Champ Game loser)

Obviously having a Notre Dame vs FSU game would help this game bring a large crowd (normally doesn't come close to selling out the Citrus Bowl) plus provide good TV numbers.

When asked about how the AQ and BCS Bowl would change in the future...he definitely thought that next BCS Bowl agreements and lineup would change for 2014 (which are being discussed now).

There are BCS Bowl Meetings in January...then all the Bowl Reps/CEO meet in April...and he thinks it could be a free-for-all if the BCS gets out of the Bowl Business (i.e. BCS would only worry about #1 vs #2 and not be in charge of the other BCS bowls).

He did put in a few digs at Big East programs like UCONN and Cinci (said a 2nd or 3rd team from the SEC would have been much more worthy of an extra BCS Bowl bid vs some of the Big East past champions) but agreed that adding new teams to the Big East mix, which would provide a much wider "nationwide" conf, would be a good move for them to make.

Nothing surprising there. Why take a dig at an 11-2 or 12-0 UC team. It is amazing the pass the ACC continues to get in all of the BCS AQ stuff.
What are they now 2-11 in BCS bowl games?

UC sold more tickets and brought more fans to the Orange and Sugar Bowls than either Va. Tech or Florida did. And UC was more than worthy at 11-2 and 12-0, as SuperFlyBCat pointed out. It's convenient to dismiss the fact that their coaching staff essentially left prior to the Sugar Bowl which led to the blowout in that game. But the Orange Bowl was a competitive game.

(11-22-2011 12:03 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  Earlier today on an Orlando radio show, the Florida Citrus Sports CEO (in charge of the Champs Sports Bowl and Capital One Bowl) was discussion this preferences for the Champs Sports Bowl (Big East vs ACC) match-up.

To paraphrase:

Top 3 Big East Choices were:
1) Notre Dame
2) Notre Dame
3) Notre Dame

Top 3 ACC Choices were:
1) Florida State
2) Florida State
3) Combo mixture of Va Tech, UVA, Wake and Clemson (maybe ACC Champ Game loser

Wait What? Notre Dame football is in the Big East? did I miss that memo? or was he being sarcastic? Shouldn't it be Indy vs. ACC?

Steve is quite coy. He'll take USF and like it.

(11-22-2011 12:42 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  Nothing surprising there. Why take a dig at an 11-2 or 12-0 UC team. It is amazing the pass the ACC continues to get in all of the BCS AQ stuff.
What are they now 2-11 in BCS bowl games?

You have to remember that the Florida Citrus Sports CEO dude is surrounded by SEC "folk" on a daily basis...so they rip on everyone and anyone not from the SEC, Big Ten or not named Notre Dame.

Funny thing is though (actually its sad and pathetic on what a lap dog he turned into)...the Florida Citrus Sports CEO is a graduate of UCF! (His group and the city were one of the main reasons why UCF jumped ship from the Citrus Bowl and built their own on-campus stadium).

(11-22-2011 01:26 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(11-22-2011 12:42 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  Nothing surprising there. Why take a dig at an 11-2 or 12-0 UC team. It is amazing the pass the ACC continues to get in all of the BCS AQ stuff.
What are they now 2-11 in BCS bowl games?

You have to remember that the Florida Citrus Sports CEO dude is surrounded by SEC "folk" on a daily basis...so they rip on everyone and anyone not from the SEC, Big Ten or not named Notre Dame.

Funny thing is though (actually its sad and pathetic on what a lap dog he turned into)...the Florida Citrus Sports CEO is a graduate of UCF! (His group and the city were one of the main reasons why UCF jumped ship from the Citrus Bowl and built their own on-campus stadium).

He should try to be honest, or maybe he is not informed. He should say an SEC team that finishes 2nd-3rd etc., could be more deserving for a BCS game and as a bowl exec I would hope that the SEC team would yield better return on our investment, regardless of how deserving a Big East team might be.

I guess he said for the Champs, ND, ND, and ND for the above reason and not because they are or are not deserving of the Champs bowl.

(11-22-2011 01:41 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(11-22-2011 01:26 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(11-22-2011 12:42 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  Nothing surprising there. Why take a dig at an 11-2 or 12-0 UC team. It is amazing the pass the ACC continues to get in all of the BCS AQ stuff.
What are they now 2-11 in BCS bowl games?

You have to remember that the Florida Citrus Sports CEO dude is surrounded by SEC "folk" on a daily basis...so they rip on everyone and anyone not from the SEC, Big Ten or not named Notre Dame.

Funny thing is though (actually its sad and pathetic on what a lap dog he turned into)...the Florida Citrus Sports CEO is a graduate of UCF! (His group and the city were one of the main reasons why UCF jumped ship from the Citrus Bowl and built their own on-campus stadium).

He should try to be honest, or maybe he is not informed. He should say an SEC team that finishes 2nd-3rd etc., could be more deserving for a BCS game and as a bowl exec I would hope that the SEC team would yield better return on our investment, regardless of how deserving a Big East team might be.

I guess he said for the Champs, ND, ND, and ND for the above reason and not because they are or are not deserving of the Champs bowl.

To clarify, both the Bowl CEO and radio host noted that bowl games (outside BCS Champ Game) are almost never about which team(s) deserve it but more from a business angle (i.e. which team can you bring in to help sell the most tix and generate the highest TV ratings).

ND vs Florida State game would probably generate the largest potential crowd and also probably the highest available TV ratings for their bowl game...hence why he was pushing for that as his first choice.

Why would a 8-4 or (unlikely, I know) a 9-3 ND team not be "deserving" of a Champs Sports Bowl bid?

Alternatively, doesn't everyone know that "deserving" has nothing to do with bowl games beyond BCS #1 vs. #2?

(11-23-2011 07:54 AM)TerryD Wrote:  Why would a 8-4 or (unlikely, I know) a 9-3 ND team not be "deserving" of a Champs Sports Bowl bid?

Alternatively, doesn't everyone know that "deserving" has nothing to do with bowl games beyond BCS #1 vs. #2?

I will go one step further and say "deserving" and "bowl game" are two things that go together rarely, if ever.

(11-23-2011 07:54 AM)TerryD Wrote:  Why would a 8-4 or (unlikely, I know) a 9-3 ND team not be "deserving" of a Champs Sports Bowl bid?

Don't think anyone suggested that...as my comments above were about ALL bowl games (made by the 2 folks on the radio).

Also, some teams in various conferences still have 2 games to play...so no one really knows which teams will fall to which bowls.

Props though for jumping ASAP to the ND save card.

It is not about deserving, it is about $$$.

(11-23-2011 08:05 AM)goodknightfl Wrote:  It is not about deserving, it is about $$$.

Yup....it all bout the $$$$...C.R.E.A.M.

(11-22-2011 12:03 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  Obviously having a Notre Dame vs FSU game would help this game bring a large crowd (normally doesn't come close to selling out the Citrus Bowl) plus provide good TV numbers.

Notre Dame - FSU is a done deal, even if both lose their last games against Florida and Stanford.

(11-22-2011 12:55 PM)ivet Wrote:  Wait What? Notre Dame football is in the Big East? did I miss that memo? or was he being sarcastic? Shouldn't it be Indy vs. ACC?

You can thank our brilliant commissioner for giving away the Champs bowl slot AND the money the conference would get from the game to Notre Dame. Another big round of applause for the leadership of Big East commissioner John Marinatto.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4407588

Hogan said the bowl did not require that the Big East include Notre Dame in the deal.

"You could fairly say that a Big East deal would have been done if Notre Dame wasn't part of the package, but the fact that they are makes it that much more attractive," he said

(11-23-2011 09:39 AM)UofLgrad07 Wrote:  

(11-22-2011 12:55 PM)ivet Wrote:  Wait What? Notre Dame football is in the Big East? did I miss that memo? or was he being sarcastic? Shouldn't it be Indy vs. ACC?

You can thank our brilliant commissioner for giving away a bowl slot AND conference money to Notre Dame.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4407588

Hogan said the bowl did not require that the Big East include Notre Dame in the deal.

"You could fairly say that a Big East deal would have been done if Notre Dame wasn't part of the package, but the fact that they are makes it that much more attractive," he said

That quote was discussed a while back. To me, it came across as ego-stroking for the Big East, but meaningless, since ND *was* a part of the deal and clearly Champs was glad they were.

(11-22-2011 01:41 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  

(11-22-2011 01:26 PM)KnightLight Wrote:  

(11-22-2011 12:42 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  Nothing surprising there. Why take a dig at an 11-2 or 12-0 UC team. It is amazing the pass the ACC continues to get in all of the BCS AQ stuff.
What are they now 2-11 in BCS bowl games?

You have to remember that the Florida Citrus Sports CEO dude is surrounded by SEC "folk" on a daily basis...so they rip on everyone and anyone not from the SEC, Big Ten or not named Notre Dame.

Funny thing is though (actually its sad and pathetic on what a lap dog he turned into)...the Florida Citrus Sports CEO is a graduate of UCF! (His group and the city were one of the main reasons why UCF jumped ship from the Citrus Bowl and built their own on-campus stadium).

He should try to be honest, or maybe he is not informed. He should say an SEC team that finishes 2nd-3rd etc., could be more deserving for a BCS game and as a bowl exec I would hope that the SEC team would yield better return on our investment, regardless of how deserving a Big East team might be.

I guess he said for the Champs, ND, ND, and ND for the above reason and not because they are or are not deserving of the Champs bowl.

Knightlight,

I was responding to this post, not yours, but thanks for the snarky post.

(11-22-2011 12:42 PM)SuperFlyBCat Wrote:  Nothing surprising there. Why take a dig at an 11-2 or 12-0 UC team. It is amazing the pass the ACC continues to get in all of the BCS AQ stuff.

giving some conferences (like the ACC) a "pass" is the whole point and purpose "in all of the BCS AQ stuff" in the first place. So it really is no more amazing than the existence of all the BCS-AQ stuff to begin with.

I know it's BS, but I don't even argue about it anymore.