(07-22-2014 04:15 PM)goofus Wrote: Has nothing to do with the delay in signing but I believe they could do a better job of defining the back-up options for the conference champions in these bowls.
For example, the years the Rose is a semifinal, the fiesta could be designated the host for the BigTen and Pac12 champions (or their backups IF the conference champs are in the playoffs). That way the Fiesta could have a decent 3-year rotation of teams.
Same setup with Sugar and Cotton. The cotton can host the Sec and B12 champs the years that Sugar is a semifinal.
Same deal with Orange and Peach.
The different conferences (probably) have different levels of interest in controlling which Fiesta/Cotton/Peach bowl they go to if their champion gets "bumped" by a semifinal.
First of all, I don't think the Big Ten gives a hoot whether their team goes to the Peach, Cotton or Fiesta. I say that because the Big Ten has pretty regularly signed bowls in Arizona, Texas and Florida. Yes, Georgia != Florida, but B1G to Atl isn't the travel hassle that ACC to Arizona or PAC to Atlanta would be.
PAC to Fiesta is a pretty obvious move.
XII could go either Fiesta or Cotton.
SEC could go Peach or Cotton.
ACC to Peach is as obvious as PAC to Fiesta.
And the G5 team has to go somewhere.
Strange note: The Fiesta hasn't seen an SEC team since January 2000.
Point to ponder: How much of this will be in the contracts, how much will just be how it works out? I think it's only in the contract if either 1) both sides (bowl and conference) want it pretty badly or if 2) one side wants it badly, and the other side doesn't mind.
I think the bowls will want to lock in protections against getting stuck with the G5 team too often. You probably don't want to set a rotation in stone that sends Fresno to Atlanta one year followed by ECU to Arizona, but the Access Bowls won't want too much G5 cooties.
PREDICTION: No scheduled rotation for the G5 team in the Access Bowl, but no Access Bowl will have to take the G5 team two years in a row. I don't know if the second part is in the contracts, or if it's a handshake arrangement, basically that no one has to take a "dog" G5 twice in a row, or maybe more broadly that no one has to take a "non-travelling" team, P5 or G5, twice in a row if possible.
I don't know if the Peach Bowl wants to lock in the ACC champ. The Cotton is locked into the G5 champ every three years (Fiesta, Peach semis), so the other two years the Peach has a 50% chance of having the G5 team. So if the Peach locks in the ACC, they've got a good chance of getting a Syracuse vs Northern Illinois or something. They might want to take their chances with the committee.
Would the Big XII be motivated to sign a backup agreement? Probably not. They signed one of their top teams to Orlando, so why not Atlanta once in a while?
So predictions:
PAC champ to Fiesta. Does that require a deal? Especially if it's the only deal that would get signed at this point.
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CFP Bowls still unsigned.
