Sun Belt looks to expand bowl lineup

[hapapp]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2013/f ... z2TWdQNas6

[Gonzo]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mac-sun-be ... ncaaf.html

Looking to CUSA for the opponent. I don't like that. Part of the need to add another tie in comes from a need to catch up to CUSA in perception. Adding one to both leagues doesn't give us any headway. If the MAC wants to expand tie ins as well, why not go in together?

It will likely be against the #7 CUSA squad which is a total mismatch for a #3 SBC team. A #7 team in CUSA doesn't deserve a post season. What a joke.

[Rekdiver]

Your right but what if the #7 team was UNCC.........wouldnt that be sweet to see............

[Gonzo]

You're right but what if the #7 team was UNCC.........wouldnt that be sweet to see............

Oh yes it would. Poetic justice.

I have a feeling Cobb would pass Satterfield a note saying something along the lines of "Leave in the starters and score 80 on them."

[97APP]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mac-sun-be ... ncaaf.html

Looking to CUSA for the opponent. I don't like that. Part of the need to add another tie in comes from a need to catch up to CUSA in perception. Adding one to both leagues doesn't give us any headway. If the MAC wants to expand tie ins as well, why not go in together?

It will likely be against the #7 CUSA squad which is a total mismatch for a #3 SBC team. A #7 team in CUSA doesn't deserve a post season. What a joke.

I look at it a little differently. Most people aren't aware or just don't care where a bowl chooses it's teams in the conference pecking order. If this bowl comes to pass, the SBC will have 2 bowls versus CUSA (The New Orleans Bowl - SBC #1/#2 vs CUSA #6 and the Little Rock Bowl? - SBC #3 vs CUSA #7).

All most people will see is SBC vs CUSA. IMO, CUSA is the conference the SBC needs to jump in overall perception the most at this moment. The SBC should be in a favorable positon to win both games with the matchups the bowls should provide. So when the games have been played, most people will only know that the SBC beats CUSA in bowl games.

[Maddog1956]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mac-sun-be ... ncaaf.html

Looking to CUSA for the opponent. I don't like that. Part of the need to add another tie in comes from a need to catch up to CUSA in perception. Adding one to both leagues doesn't give us any headway. If the MAC wants to expand tie ins as well, why not go in together?

It will likely be against the #7 CUSA squad which is a total mismatch for a #3 SBC team. A #7 team in CUSA doesn't deserve a post season. What a joke.

I look at it a little differently. Most people aren't aware or just don't care where a bowl chooses it's teams in the conference pecking order. If this bowl comes to pass, the SBC will have 2 bowls versus CUSA (The New Orleans Bowl - SBC #1/#2 vs CUSA #6 and the Little Rock Bowl? - SBC #3 vs CUSA #7).

All most people will see is SBC vs CUSA. IMO, CUSA is the conference the SBC needs to jump in overall perception the most at this moment. The SBC should be in a favorable positon to win both games with the matchups the bowls should provide. So when the games have been played, most people will only know that the SBC beats CUSA in bowl games.

I agree, the more bowl games we can beat them in the better.

[Yosef84]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mac-sun-be ... ncaaf.html

Looking to CUSA for the opponent. I don't like that. Part of the need to add another tie in comes from a need to catch up to CUSA in perception. Adding one to both leagues doesn't give us any headway. If the MAC wants to expand tie ins as well, why not go in together?

It will likely be against the #7 CUSA squad which is a total mismatch for a #3 SBC team. A #7 team in CUSA doesn't deserve a post season. What a joke.

I look at it a little differently. Most people aren't aware or just don't care where a bowl chooses it's teams in the conference pecking order. If this bowl comes to pass, the SBC will have 2 bowls versus CUSA (The New Orleans Bowl - SBC #1/#2 vs CUSA #6 and the Little Rock Bowl? - SBC #3 vs CUSA #7).

All most people will see is SBC vs CUSA. IMO, CUSA is the conference the SBC needs to jump in overall perception the most at this moment. The SBC should be in a favorable positon to win both games with the matchups the bowls should provide. So when the games have been played, most people will only know that the SBC beats CUSA in bowl games.

It's true that most people don't know how the teams are selected from the conferences, but something about this doesn't sit right with me. The matching of our top teams (#1-3) with CUSA mid tier teams seems to be a defacto admission that they are stronger. Yes, it should yield a win for the SBC but the bragging rights are questionable. Once upon a time, these matches made sense, but with all the changes in CUSA, it really doesn't. I guess it will take time for the scales to balance (hopefully).

[Saint3333]

Win and bring fans to the bowls and that will fix that issue.

[MountainMan]

Win and bring fans to the bowls and that will fix that issue.

Bingo!

[97APP]

It's true that most people don't know how the teams are selected from the conferences, but something about this doesn't sit right with me. The matching of our top teams (#1-3) with CUSA mid tier teams seems to be a defacto admission that they are stronger. Yes, it should yield a win for the SBC but the bragging rights are questionable. Once upon a time, these matches made sense, but with all the changes in CUSA, it really doesn't. I guess it will take time for the scales to balance (hopefully).

When these arrangements were made the differences between CUSA and the SBC were real and the bowl matchups fairly even. Now the matchups favor the SBC. The Sun Belt has winnable bowl games so there's a liklihood of bowl season success, which should help the conference's overall perception.

The bowl arrangements across the board haven't yet changed to reflect the realignment. I suspect that will change in the next few years. If you really want to see unfair take a look at CUSA's lineup:
Liberty Bowl CUSA#1 vs SEC #8/9,
Hawai'i Bowl CUSA #2 vs MWC #4,
St Petersburg Bowl CUSA #3 vs American #6,
Heart of Dallas Bowl CUSA#4 vs B10 #7,
New Orleans Bowl CUSA #5 vs SBC #1, and
Military Bowl CUSA #6 vs ACC #8,

On the surface, the matchups sound good but they probably won't be favored in a single game. The next 3-4 years could see a shift in perception within FBS especially at the G5 level. If the SBC can win its bowl games and CUSA can't consistantly do better than 2-6 or 3-3 in theirs we could leapfrog them in public perception.

[Maddog1956]

The way I see it is that In the end it depends on viewers, ticket sales, and sponsorships (advertising), all of which translate to money. I'm sure they will adjust the bowls based on ticket sales and viewers. The conferences with the best demographics attending/viewing will demand the most ad dollars and will become the most important bowl.

[YesAppCan]

spot on 97.

[OsageJ]

It is being reported that the New Orleans bowl may be talking to AAC for the opponent for the Sun Belt. If so we would be getting away from CUSA. If that does happen I hope they kick over to the new bowl in Little Rock if we get that going. Unfortunately I read this morning that may be another tie in with the MAC. We already have that in the Go Daddy. Since the new bowl may be the Little Ceasars Bowl that is going away from Detroit the MAC may come with it. I do think we need to play CUSA in a bowl.

[AppGrad78]

ESPN.com offers an update on efforts by "Group of Five" conferences to increase their bowl inventories. Some outside-the-box ideas are being floated. One idea that apparently isn't being considered is a new bowl along the southeastern seaboard north of Florida. Stadium availability and quality are issues, but it seems to me the Sun Belt and Conference USA are overlooking opportunities to position a bowl in a city like Savannah or Atlanta or Charleston, S.C., or in the Hampton Roads area.


http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... es-sources

[Saint3333]

There are too many bowls and if more of them are Go5 vs. Go5 bowls we will start to see a reduction in the number of bowls.

This shift is another step closer to the P5 conferences breaking away.

Five years from now we could be looking at a drastically different landscape and conference for App, not all the back to 1982, but much closer.

Ideally I'd like to have a subdivision of middle tier programs with a 16 team playoff. 1-AA with scholarship minimums of sorts.

[Maddog1956]

I just think the whole concept of being in a conference eligible to play bowl games is fan-damn=tasic! Hopefully they'll be enough people that aren't up the backside of the P5 schools to make the Co5 bowls very profitable in which case they'll go on forever.

[Gonzo]

fan-damn=tasic!