How to Fix the Sun Belt Bowl Selections

[EastHallApp]

Kind of piggybacking on T-Dog's column from yesterday, but I was thinking about this earlier and would be interested to hear others' thoughts (and votes).

http://www.yosefscabin.com/how-to-fix-t ... elections/

[appst89]

I voted to designate a specific bowl for the champion, but there also should be an effort by the conference to secure a good P5 or G5 champion for the bowl.

[bigdaddyg]

It's almost a Catch 22. What if the bowl game designated for the champion is in Texas or somewhere pretty far from the Carolinas where most of the App alumni live? Further away the fewer fans that will make the trip. Now if it is in Florida it might have some traction although if we run of a string of championship years folks will complain about going to the same destination. That being said the Big 10 and PAC 10 champs played in the Rose Bowl every year for decades

[Saint3333]

I voted to designate a specific bowl for the champion, but there also should be an effort by the conference to secure a good P5 or G5 champion for the bowl.

If we could secure a tie-in with a P5 do this, if not let the champion pick.

[Appstate88]

Go to four bowls for Sunbelt. Bowl locations would be New Orleans, Mobile, Orlando and Charleston. Top four teams pick in order of conference finish.

[SayYesToTheRock]

If I'm the Sun Belt, I want my champ facing somebody else's champ. Not stuck with the #3 C-USA team (last year), or the #3 MAC team (this year). A system that pits the G5 champions (the ones that didn't get a NY6 invite) against each other could be highly marketable. We could be looking at App vs Temple and SDSU vs WKU, for example.



More realistically: the Arizona Bowl could be replaced with a bowl in Charleston (ideally on ESPN).

[Goapps15]

I think a G5 champion vs champion set up would be nice to see. The problem is the top G5 conferences get tie ins with middle of the pack regional P5 programs. They would likely not want to give that up.

[TheMackAttack]

I said on the csn board that there are really two things I would like to see. First, bowl games can't select the same team in back to back years. Second, conferences can only have one tie-in vs another conference. For example, the Sun Belt has a tie-in vs the MAC in the Camellia Bowl, therefore they can't have a second game vs the MAC (Dollar General). This guarantees new experiences and a variety of opponents. How much better off would we be if we have 5 tie ins, one each vs the MAC, AAC, CUSA, Big 12, and ACC? How much better off would we be if could drop the Arizona and Dollar General Bowls for the Birmingham and Texas Bowls even though they are hardly prestigious.

[SayYesToTheRock]

I think a G5 champion vs champion set up would be nice to see. The problem is the top G5 conferences get tie ins with middle of the pack regional P5 programs. They would likely not want to give that up.

Oddly enough, (aside from WMU) the champs aren't playing P5s.

WKU (the C-USA Champ) is playing Memphis (#4 in the AAC), while SDSU (MW Champ) is playing Houston (#5 AAC).

[B30020]

I agree with sayyestotherock. Right now outside of Western Michigan, the 4 Group of Five conference champions are playing two mid tier AAC teams, ASU is playing the second best team in the MAC and Temple is playing Wake Forest. That is pretty crappy for the four group of five conference champions. I have got to think the 5 group of five conference presidents have got the feel the same way.

[B30020]

Put another way, let's win the AAC conference championship and play Wake Forest! Woo hoo!!!! Pretty pitiful. Group of 5 needs to figure something out. Either play Group of 5 conference champions or play upper tier Power 5 teams in bowls.

[EastHallApp]

I think a G5 champion vs champion set up would be nice to see. The problem is the top G5 conferences get tie ins with middle of the pack regional P5 programs. They would likely not want to give that up.

Oddly enough, (aside from WMU) the champs aren't playing P5s.

WKU (the C-USA Champ) is playing Memphis (#4 in the AAC), while SDSU (MW Champ) is playing Houston (#5 AAC).

That's partially because when the P5s don't have enough teams to fill all their tie-ins, the ones against G5s tend to be the first to go. San Diego St. is supposed to be playing a PAC-12, for example. CUSA has a Big 10 tie-in in the Heart of Dallas Bowl, but the B1G couldn't fill it and WKU would rather go to the beach anyway.

[B30020]

By the way, easthallapp, really good post and as good of question as I have seen in the past year. This is a really big deal for the future of our conference as well as a Group of 5. Let's kick some butt in Montgomery!

[JTApps1]

Most of the issues with bowl selection are outside of the control of the Sun Belt. First thing that needs to take place is require 7 wins to become bowl eligible. Now I realize that will probably never happen as the P5 schools in particular don't want less teams playing in bowls, but it would immediately fix a lot of issues with the system. Doing that we could drop from 40 bowls down to about 32 which would have covered all 7 win teams the past two years.

Also, limit tie-ins for the P5 conferences to their top 4 teams. Look at the Belk Bowl this year. They have one good team with VT, but were forced to take an Arkansas team that was 9th in the SEC. I seriously doubt VT fans are happy their "reward" for being second in the ACC is to play a 9th place team. The tie ins are so out of whack right now creating a lot of bad match-ups. They would be better off having the freedom to pick regional teams.