I reread this article in the wee hours this morning and have a couple of questions. If I am reading this correctly, the LB matchup is determined by the number of eligible SEC teams...right?

Quote: Remember this? If the SEC had eight eligible bowl teams, the Liberty would be C-USA vs. Big East. If the SEC had nine, SEC vs. Big East. If the SEC had 10, SEC vs. C-USA.

Why was the Big 12 involved last year? Did the Big East not have enough eligible teams...lack of interest? What are the chances the LB is an AAC bowl this year? As always, please and thank you.

I think basically if the SEC had more than 8 bowl eligible teams, they were guaranteed to play a Big East opponent in either the Liberty Bowl or the Birmingham Bowl. If they had 9 bowl eligible teams then the SEC chose which of those bowls hosted their SEC vs Big East matchup. If they had 10 bowl eligible teams then they played the Big East in Birmingham and CUSA in Memphis.

In 2011, the SEC had 9 bowl eligible teams, so they chose to play their Big East opponent (Cincinnati) in the Liberty Bowl. This kicked the CUSA champ (USM) out of the Liberty Bowl.

In 2012, the SEC had 8 bowl eligible teams, so they didn't play in either bowl, leaving the Liberty Bowl to pick an at-large opponent (Iowa State) to replace the SEC participant

(10-23-2013 02:33 PM)gulfcoastgal Wrote:  I reread this article in the wee hours this morning and have a couple of questions. If I am reading this correctly, the LB matchup is determined by the number of eligible SEC teams...right?

Quote: Remember this? If the SEC had eight eligible bowl teams, the Liberty would be C-USA vs. Big East. If the SEC had nine, SEC vs. Big East. If the SEC had 10, SEC vs. C-USA.

Why was the Big 12 involved last year? Did the Big East not have enough eligible teams...lack of interest? What are the chances the LB is an AAC bowl this year? As always, please and thank you.

PER WIKIPEDIA

Quote:The bowl's current contract, adopted in 2006, pits the winner of the C-USA championship game against the eighth pick from the Southeastern Conference. The American Athletic Conference, successor to the Big East, is to provide its fifth-place team as an alternate if the SEC cannot fulfill the bid. The SEC was also given veto power for the bowl, according to the Orlando Sentinel, and chose to use it in 2011 to block C-USA champion Southern Miss from playing Vanderbilt; instead Cincinnati got the spot and Southern Miss accepted an invitation to the Hawaii Bowl instead.

The 2012 Liberty Bowl featured a matchup between the Iowa State Cyclones (9th place in the Big 12) and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (Conference USA champions).[6] Iowa State defeated Tulsa 38-23 in the season's first weekend, however Tulsa defeated Iowa State 31-17 in the rematch of the regular season game.[6] Though the bowl normally selects a team from the SEC, it invited Iowa State because the SEC did not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill all of its contracted bowl games

The SEC has 9 bowl eligible teams, but two of them made a BCS bowl, so their #8 was not available to play in the Liberty.

But, The Big East had 5 bowl eligible teams with Pitt at 6-6, who played in the BBVA Compass bowl. Odds are the Liberty had something in a contract stating they could pick another eligible team if they didn't want the fifth place team from the Big East, so instead they chose a 6-6 Iowa State over a 6-6 Pitt.

(10-23-2013 03:03 PM)MechaKnight Wrote:  I think basically if the SEC had more than 8 bowl eligible teams, they were guaranteed to play a Big East opponent in either the Liberty Bowl or the Birmingham Bowl. If they had 9 bowl eligible teams then the SEC chose which of those bowls hosted their SEC vs Big East matchup. If they had 10 bowl eligible teams then they played the Big East in Birmingham and CUSA in Memphis.

In 2011, the SEC had 9 bowl eligible teams, so they chose to play their Big East opponent (Cincinnati) in the Liberty Bowl. This kicked the CUSA champ (USM) out of the Liberty Bowl.

In 2012, the SEC had 8 bowl eligible teams, so they didn't play in either bowl, leaving the Liberty Bowl to pick an at-large opponent (Iowa State) to replace the SEC participant

They had 9 eligible who played in bowls, but 2 got BCS bowls (Alabama/Florida). That's what knocked out the 8th place SEC team from playing in the Liberty last year.