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Sports Columnist Randy Kennedy
Sun Belt good fit for bowl
Friday, October 16, 2009
The rapidly changing college football bowl landscape is about to have a major impact on Mobile's GMAC Bowl.
Within the next couple of weeks, bowl officials are expected to announce a tie-in with the Sun Belt Conference that could pave the way for the Troy Trojans to play a bowl game in their home state as early as next season and for the South Alabama Jaguars to play their first bowl game ever in their home stadium.
This season's game, scheduled for Jan. 6 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, is still set to feature a team from the Mid-American Conference against the No. 9 team from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The MAC team will almost certainly be Central Michigan, a good team with a marquee star at quarterback. Some college football experts have compared Dan LeFevour to Tim Tebow, and LeFevour's career rushing and passing numbers are equal or superior to the Florida star's (though not against the consistently strong competition). Central Michigan has reeled off five straight wins — including an impressive victory at Michigan State — after opening the season with a 19-6 setback at Arizona.
But figuring out who the Chippewas will play in Mobile is part of the impetus for the decision to partner with the Sun Belt Conference. The No. 9 team in the ACC could be Florida State in perhaps Bobby Bowden's final season or Clemson or North Carolina. That sounds great. The problem is that none of those teams are guaranteed to win the six games necessary to become bowl eligible. Today there are eight ACC teams at .500 or better. That would leave GMAC Bowl officials scrambling for an eligible at-large team that isn't contractually obligated to another bowl.
This season that could mean Southern Miss, Hawaii or who knows what other team. That's not the position anyone wants to be in seven weeks before bowl matchups are finalized.
To further complicate matters, the bowl scene is getting more crowded every year. Dallas and New York are expected to host new bowls beginning next season, bringing the total number to 36. There simply aren't 72 bowl-eligible teams available many years, meaning some bowls that are banking on the ACC or SEC to have eight or nine bowl-eligible teams are going to get shut out as often as they get rewarded by gambling on those high-profile conferences.
Once the GMAC Bowl agrees to a four-year deal to bring top teams from the MAC and Sun Belt to Mobile, there won't be any need to worry about being left without a matchup. Also, the agreement is expected to include a clause that would allow the GMAC Bowl to instead take a 6-6 SEC or ACC team if a more compelling matchup could be brokered.
The best part about this expected Sun Belt-GMAC Bowl agreement is that it should be beneficial to the emerging South Alabama program, which will be bowl-eligible for the first time in 2013 (the last year of the agreement). The support that has been shown to USA football should spill over to the GMAC Bowl, plus there won't be any concern about the bowl being left without two eligible teams.
In this changing bowl landscape, that's an assurance that's too good to pass up.
Contact Sports Editor Randy Kennedy at:
rkennedy@press-register.com
