OU/Neb loser

[Sgt. Ryan]

The Big 12 announced Wednesday the Cotton Bowl will take the loser of the Big 12 championship game — either OU or Nebraska — and the Holiday Bowl has chosen Texas A&M.

 

 

Where does this leave Texas, the Alamo Bowl?

[GWPFFL BrianW]

Depends on what the Gator Bowl does. I think they can either take a Big 12 team or Big East Team to face the ACC counterpart. As an Iowa fan, obviously the Texas game is more appealing than any other match up and might force Iowa to play with a pulse. I really don't care who is in the Alamo Bowl as long as it isn't Texas Tech. Playing them in an Alamo Bowl every 5 years isn't exactly appealing to me.

[Sgt. Ryan]

more tidbits.

 

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index...h_mark#20061129

 

Bowl Fodder

• The Toyota Gator Bowl has agreed to take Georgia Tech as its ACC participant, if the Yellow Jackets lose to Wake Forest in Saturday's ACC championship game at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville. Mike Hartley, a member of the Gator Bowl's executive committee, said Wednesday morning the bowl game agreed Tuesday night to take Georgia Tech, a potential ACC championship game loser, even though it prefers to invite Clemson.

 

"We had a conference call last night and everything worked out positively," Hartley said. "If Georgia Tech loses, we look forward to having them back here."

 

A new agreement was put into place after Boston College and Georgia Tech were slighted last season for teams below them in the ACC standings. The new rule stipulates non-BCS bowl games can't pass ACC teams for other teams with lesser records, unless they're within one game of each other in the league's regular season standings. Georgia Tech finished 7-1 in the ACC; Clemson finished 5-3.

 

 

The Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, which choose first from among the remaining ACC teams after the BCS, is expected to select Virginia Tech to play Georgia.

 

 

If the Yellow Jackets beat the Demon Deacons, who finished 6-2 in ACC play, the Gator Bowl and Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando could bypass Wake Forest and select Clemson and Maryland, respectively. The Terps also finished 5-3 in the ACC.

 

 

The Gator Bowl is concerned about bringing back the Yellow Jackets less than a month after they played in the ACC championship game. Tickets sales for the second league championship game in Jacksonville have been very slow, with about 12,000 tickets remaining through Tuesday. The Gator Bowl Association could stand to lose $1 million on the game, sources said.

 

 

• To increase ticket sales for the Gator Bowl, the bowl game might exercise its option to take a Big 12 Conference team. A new agreement put into place before the season allows the Gator Bowl to take a Big 12 team, instead of a Big East participant, twice every four years. If there is only one Big 12 team in BCS bowl games, then the Gator Bowl gets to select a Big 12 participant before the AT&T Cotton Bowl and Pacific Life Holiday Bowl.

 

 

The Gator Bowl would probably take West Virginia if the Mountaineers beat Rutgers on Saturday. But if the Scarlet Knights win and go to the FedEx Orange Bowl as the Big East champions, the Gator Bowl could bypass West Virginia and Louisville for Texas.

 

 

Cotton Bowl officials said the Big 12 Conference hopes the winner of Saturday's Big 12 championship game between Oklahoma and Nebraska goes to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the loser of that game goes to the Cotton Bowl, Texas A&M goes to the Holiday Bowl and Texas goes to the Gator Bowl. Texas Tech would probably wind up in the Alamo Bowl, followed by Kansas State in the PetroSun Independence, Missouri in the Insight and Oklahoma State in the Texas Bowl.

 

 

• If Clemson isn't selected to play in the Gator Bowl, there's a chance the Tigers could fall to the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, N.C. If Wake Forest wins the ACC championship game, then the Demon Deacons would go to the Orange Bowl.

 

 

The rest of the ACC bowl lineup would probably look like this: Georgia Tech to the Gator, Maryland to the Champs Sports Bowl, Boston College to the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl in Nashville, Clemson to the Meineke Car Care Bowl and Miami to the MPC Computers Bowl in Boise, Idaho. Florida State has already accepted an invitation to the Emerald Bowl in San Francisco.

 

 

• There is some speculation that the Orange Bowl and Allstate Sugar Bowl would swap SEC participants if Florida beats Arkansas in Saturday night's SEC championship game in Atlanta's Georgia Dome. The belief is Florida would be a better fit in Miami, and LSU would be a better fit in New Orleans, where there are still concerns the city doesn't have ample hotel rooms to accommodate fans after Hurricane Katrina.

 

 

But Sugar Bowl spokesman Gregory Blackwell said Wednesday morning that the SEC champion will play in New Orleans no matter what, probably against Notre Dame. The Rose Bowl is expected to match LSU against Michigan, if Ohio State and USC play in the BCS title game.

 

 

"I know for sure the SEC champion, unless it's playing in the BCS title game, will come to the Sugar Bowl," Blackwell said. "The Sugar Bowl doesn't negotiate its anchor team. We consider it an honor to have the SEC champion playing in the Sugar Bowl."

 

 

• There was confusion in my chat Monday about whether LSU would be an automatic participant in the BCS if the Tigers finish in the top four of the final BCS standings. The Tigers could rise to No. 4 if Arkansas beats Florida in the SEC championship game (the Gators are currently No. 4 in the BCS standings, followed by the Tigers at No. 5).

 

 

There was confusion because No. 3 Michigan won't win the Big 10 Conference. No. 1 Ohio State won that league, and will probably play No. 2 USC in the BCS title game, unless the Trojans are upset by unranked rival UCLA on Saturday.

 

 

To clarify the rules: Because Michigan is No. 3 in the BCS standings, and didn't win the Big 10 and is thus an at-large selection, LSU cannot receive an automatic berth. Thus, the Tigers would have to be selected by one of the four BCS bowls as an at-large choice.