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American Athletic Conference Bowl Lineup (2020-25)
Annual Appearances
Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman (Annapolis, Maryland) DECENT
Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas)/SoFi Hawaii Bowl (Honolulu, Hawaii) – alternating years YUCK!
Bowl game to be named – (Boston, Massachusetts) NAME IT FREEZER BOWL

Four Selections Annually From the Following
Birmingham Bowl (Birmingham, Alabama) COULD BE DECENT IF MOVED TO NEW UAB STADIUM
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (Tampa, Florida) BUSH
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl (Dallas, Texas) BUSH
Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl (Boca Raton, Florida) BUSH
Frisco Bowl (Frisco, Texas) BUSH
AutoNation Cure Bowl (Orlando, Florida) BUSH
Myrtle Beach Bowl (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina) BUSH
New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque, New Mexico) BUSH

So AAC teams must get NY6 for a first class bowl. Been to Military and is OK. Been to Birmingham which will be better if held at new UAB stadium instead of tired Legion Field.

The names of the other bowls just characterize them as 3rd rate.

I thought this was going to be something positive.

(03-05-2021 11:43 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  I thought this was going to be something positive.

It is positive if we get NY6 again. Let's face it our bowls do not say or pay big time.

Everyone knows the bowl lineup is a problem. The only saving grace if you don't make a NY6 is that occasionally another conference does not fill their bowl slots and we might get a crack at going to the Liberty Bowl or something similar. Meanwhile, if Louisville goes 7-5 they can go to the Music Bowl or something cool like that from the ACC. Just another reason why we need out of the AAC.

What's the G5 NY6 bowl next year? Fiesta?

That's the only bowl lineup I'm worried about. I don't care where Houston and Memphis are going to go.

(03-06-2021 06:58 AM)doss2 Wrote:  

(03-05-2021 11:43 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  I thought this was going to be something positive.

It is positive if we get NY6 again. Let's face it our bowls do not say or pay big time.

Crappy AAC bowls does not help me to forget our hoops season this year. We know it's a NY6 or bust life of existence right now. I think it's a sham that we could win our conference and end up going to an early December Gorilla Glue Bowl if a higher ranked G5 gets the NY6 bid. But I digress...

NY6 competition (OOC):

Boysee @UCF, UTEP, OKS, @BYU I see 2 loses OOC

CCU: Citadel, Kansas, @Buffalo, UMass No OOC loses a real possibility Toughest game @Buffalo

APSU: ECU (Neutral), @Miami FL, Elon, Marshall I see 1 loss @Miami

(03-05-2021 11:43 PM)UCGrad1992 Wrote:  I thought this was going to be something positive.

Yeah... sounds like we need to forget about BB AND the AAC Bowls

(03-06-2021 02:15 PM)doss2 Wrote:  NY6 competition (OOC):

Boysee @UCF, UTEP, OKS, @BYU I see 2 loses OOC

CCU: Citadel, Kansas, @Buffalo, UMass No OOC loses a real possibility Toughest game @Buffalo

APSU: ECU (Neutral), @Miami FL, Elon, Marshall I see 1 loss @Miami

With being in the American and with those games @ Indiana and @Notre Dame, we will beat out any team with the same number of losses. I see a 1 loss season having no problem getting into the NY6 bowl.

Is this thread supposed to cheer me up?

College football playoff next season!. Book it Dano.

(03-07-2021 12:53 PM)cpawstoney Wrote:  Is this thread supposed to cheer me up?

Not on this board. You new here?

But aren't we also alternates for a number of bowls that aren't quite as crappy, like the Liberty bowl.

Bowl affiliations may be the biggest downside to being P6 and not P5. Arguably, the pathway to a NY6 is easier for AAC teams than a majority of P5 schools. But short of that, it's slim pickings.

The bad news is, I don't see a pathway for Aresco to improve this situation. Why would a P5 vs. P5 bowl want to swap out one of those spots contractually to a G5 conference for x number of years? Now the American will get called upon any given year to fill those contracts when available. But if a 10-2, ranked Cincinnati loses the AAC championship to a higher ranked opponent, getting to a "better" bowl not only requires UC's success but the failure of some P5 teams to qualify for those more desirable slots.

Unfortunately, this conference is known for not sending huge amounts of fans to its bowl games. I think that's getting better, but with teams like Temple and SMU barely supporting their teams in their own stadiums, I think we are going to be stuck in this lineup for awhile.