since the most of the bowl projections put us against arkansas state in mobile - our 3rd bowl in 4 yrs in alabama- I wonder if the athletic dept and MAC might be traded around UT at marketable high octane offense 11-2 conf champ. there's only a few realistic options but here's what's possible.

this year some leagues are short bowl eligible teams and others are way over so there is a bit more getting sorted out than usual. several bowl eligible 6-6 teams will not go to bowls and no 5-7 or 6-7 teams in a bowl. MAC looks to get 5 or 6 bowling.

best options
Frisco Bowl on Wed the 20th in Dallas vs an AAC team probably SMU or Houston. Brand New pro soccer stadium that seats 20K or so for football. would be a good bowl environment. good recruiting value in making a bowl appearance in the heart of Texas. after exams and 5 days before Christmas so fans and students could travel to the game and not have a conflict w school of family. MAC tie-in.

New Orleans Bowl vs Troy Sat the 16th. Would be a fun game. Troy might be ranked. High intensity week of practice preparing. Reasonable travel to a good location. on a saturday. MAC not usually in this game but maybe swaps something with conference USA. Florida St is outside possibility here as they will likely choose between detroit or shreveport (independence) or trading their way into a their best minor bowl option. swap w CUSA?

Detroit vs Virginia or Duke (or less likely Florida St) Tuesday the 26th. With bowl week over Christmas and being in Detroit it would be less of an overall fan and team experience. game would have a good opponent be in a pro stadium easily accessible to 20,000 of our fans in our recruiting footprint. MAC backup tie-in

longshot:
Shreveport (Independence Bowl) on Wed the 27th vs Florida state or Duke or Virginia. good opponent in a well established bowl game. Wed the 27th in a tough to get to small city central Louisiana location is a drawback. SEC can't fill it's spot so at large.

worst option:
the Mobile Bowl against Arkansas St or Troy on Sat the 23rd is still a strong possibility. Mobile does a good job with the Bowl week here and Troy would be a respectable dangerous opponent but we've been to both MAC Alabama bowls in the past 3 years already. MAC tie-in.

longer shots
Camella, Bahamas (Ohio-UAB) and Idaho have a MAC tie-in but unlikely to land 11-2 MAC champ against 3rd or 4th place teams from other G5 leagues. Birmingham has 1 or 2 at large spots on 12/23 would likely be a P5 opponent. Another Dallas bowl on the 26th vs Big12/Texas has an at large but UCLA projected to fill that. Bowls in Fort Worth 12/23 (Army) and Santa Clara (PAC12) 12/27 have an at large but UT unlikely to go there.

Pay outs? It's really about payouts isn't it?

Frisco Bowl: a new "ESPN" Bowl. Promising opponent. Sidelines even accounting for the narrower football field look pretty sparse. Fine for high school but can college fit in there? Safely?

(12-03-2017 07:21 AM)pono Wrote:  since the most of the bowl projections put us against arkansas state in mobile - our 3rd bowl in 4 yrs in alabama- I wonder if the athletic dept and MAC might be traded around UT at marketable high octane offense 11-2 conf champ. there's only a few realistic options but here's what's possible.

this year some leagues are short bowl eligible teams and others are way over so there is a bit more getting sorted out than usual. several bowl eligible 6-6 teams will not go to bowls and no 5-7 or 6-7 teams in a bowl. MAC looks to get 5 or 6 bowling.

best options
Frisco Bowl on Wed the 20th in Dallas vs an AAC team probably SMU or Houston. Brand New pro soccer stadium that seats 20K or so for football. would be a good bowl environment. good recruiting value in making a bowl appearance in the heart of Texas. after exams and 5 days before Christmas so fans and students could travel to the game and not have a conflict w school of family. MAC tie-in.

New Orleans Bowl vs Troy Sat the 16th. Would be a fun game. Troy might be ranked. High intensity week of practice preparing. Reasonable travel to a good location. on a saturday. MAC not usually in this game but maybe swaps something with conference USA. Florida St is outside possibility here as they will likely choose between detroit or shreveport (independence) or trading their way into a their best minor bowl option. swap w CUSA?

Detroit vs Virginia or Duke (or less likely Florida St) Tuesday the 26th. With bowl week over Christmas and being in Detroit it would be less of an overall fan and team experience. game would have a good opponent be in a pro stadium easily accessible to 20,000 of our fans in our recruiting footprint. MAC backup tie-in

longshot:
Shreveport (Independence Bowl) on Wed the 27th vs Florida state or Duke or Virginia. good opponent in a well established bowl game. Wed the 27th in a tough to get to small city central Louisiana location is a drawback. SEC can't fill it's spot so at large.

worst option:
the Mobile Bowl against Arkansas St or Troy on Sat the 23rd is still a strong possibility. Mobile does a good job with the Bowl week here and Troy would be a respectable dangerous opponent but we've been to both MAC Alabama bowls in the past 3 years already. MAC tie-in.

longer shots
Camella, Bahamas (Ohio-UAB) and Idaho have a MAC tie-in but unlikely to land 11-2 MAC champ against 3rd or 4th place teams from other G5 leagues. Birmingham has 1 or 2 at large spots on 12/23 would likely be a P5 opponent. Another Dallas bowl on the 26th vs Big12/Texas has an at large but UCLA projected to fill that. Bowls in Fort Worth 12/23 (Army) and Santa Clara (PAC12) 12/27 have an at large but UT unlikely to go there.

The game in Mobile - The Dollar General Bowl had a representative at Ford Field on Saturday. He came in shortly after me and had a jacket on with the Dollar General Bowl logo on it. Hopefully he was there to look at Akron. After that debacle, he would probably conclude no one would still be watching or at the game if Akron were down by 38 with 2 minutes left in the third quarter and without the advantage of MAC refs to help out.

Apparently, I can't let it go. I can't imagine what I would be doing if we lost that game.