(10-04-2022 10:13 AM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  I suppose never say never, but I think the Sun Belt has a solid chance of hanging onto the NO Bowl. It's held in the Super Dome. The Sun Belt headquarters are in the Super Dome. Every NO Bowl has featured an SBC team. That should help a lot.

Those who say the AAC should be above playing SBC teams in bowl games, who am I to day you can't express that as you please? It's your board. I'll be a good visitor.

I agree the goal should be to play P2 & M3 (or M2, depending on what happens with the Pac) schools. I would hope with the SBC's improved lineup combined with its on-the-field improvement pre-expansion, along with more media praise, would lead to at least one P2/M3 tie in. But that's certainly no guarantee. And again, I don't think the AAC is going to lose all of its good bowl tie ins with P2/M3's. Just 1-2.

Anyway, this is just the New Orleans Bowl. The AAC IS going to have bowl games against G5 teams. That I am certain of. Why not have a bowl game against a very competitive G5 conference within reasonable driving distance of a lot of AAC schools in a fun city? I mean, if you're going to play G5's in bowl games, I can see wanting to play the MW or the skeleton of the Pac (if both still exist), but wouldn't the SBC more appealing than the MAC or C-USA?

I agree with you. With exception to whoever draws the G5 NY6 bid, I’d rather see the top teams of AAC/SB/MWC play against each other than a 6-6 P5.

(10-04-2022 10:42 AM)slhNavy91 Wrote:  Conferences' number of bowl tie-ins are established based on average number of bowl-eligible teams over a previous run of years. The AAC has 7 slots for eleven teams based on that....

Today, the American has:
Military Bowl vs ACC
Fenway Bowl vs ACC
Armed Forces Bowl (even years) / Hawaii Bowl (odd years) alternating.

and that's all the true tie-ins. Four from the pool of:
Birmingham Bowl (past true tie-in, and the website lists AAC,SEC,ACC)
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (past true tie-in, but website lists 8 confs + BYU + Army; however, American has missed only ONE Gasparilla since the conference emerged from the Big East's ashes)
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl
Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl
Frisco Bowl
AutoNation Cure Bowl
Myrtle Beach Bowl
New Mexico Bowl

My theory is that the Birmingham Bowl has some kind of preferential pick within the pool, and Gasparilla might as well. That would be four or five tie-ins / preferences with the bottom two going into the true whirlpool. We also have backups with the Liberty Bowl and the Independence (not "pool" bowls) which HAVE been implemented in the past.

Sidebar -- Sun Belt is actually fortunate in one way to have true bowl tie-ins for five of five. Even better if you get a sixth that is named, rather than just "pool." That makes last minute planning for fans a little easier.

So what would the American lose when things are being re-negotiated in three years or so.

Not the Military Bowl.
Fenway? Interesting point about the BigTen - they love to cater to their northeast corridor alumni bases. But I don't see it yet...

Why would Birmingham lean away from an AAC adding the host team?

Armed Forces Bowl is supposed to have autonomy conference participation, but has only had that 60% of the time -- unlikely to be "stolen" for autonomy vs autonomy (and the American and mwc have good trump cards for the Armed Forces Bowl).
Gasparilla MAYBE we lose a "pool preference" type opportunity to one of the expanded bigs -- the true tie-in is already history. But it's early in the calendar and the American has a track record with it.

Looking at it from another direction...The autonomy conferences start with the NY6 juggling, then they have solid tie-ins at the next level (Citrus, Outback, etc), and then there ends up being horse-trading, and they each leave bowls at the third tier (or lower) unfilled each year. That's why the backups with the Liberty or Independence come through. So now that they're each larger by a couple teams...do they reach down to the third tier or lower for a deal they leave unfilled as often as not? Or do we just lose hope in the backup deals like Liberty and Independence? ..

Your original question of a potential AAC vs Sun Belt New Orleans Bowl?
Sure, that could be a certainty, replacing a "pool" slot. That certainty is probably better for us as a conference than wondering about some pool of Cure/Myrtle/Frisco.

Okay, heck of a rebuttal. Kudos.

I think the seven bowl spots were provided when the AAC had 12 teams (UConn). However, UConn was pretty useless from a bowl participation standpoint, so seven bowl spots for 11 schools is fine.

Honestly, and I really am not trying to troll, but I think the AAC would be doing very well if it manages to get 8 slots for 14 schools. The six incoming members haven't been winning at clip the outgoing members have been doing. I don't know. We'll see.

You make a good point about the Military Bowl with Navy being the host. I'd love to see that game split between the SBC and AAC since the SBC has several schools not all that far from Annapolis, but, yeah, your point is probably spot on. AAC vs. ACC in Annapolis.

Fenway I'm a little pessimistic about the AAC's chances of maintaining that one. The B1G may get that one against the ACC. Personally, it seems like a silly place for a bowl game given the weather and lack of enthusiasm for CFB there; a second Atlanta or Charlotte bowl game instead would make more sense to me. But that's another issue.

Armed Forces. Yeah, that isn't going anywhere. Not only is there the Navy connection, there's an abundance of AAC schools in driving distance. And it's good to have a bowl game in Texas, anyway.

Hawaii Bowl... I don't know. Do you even want that one? It's paradise, but soooo far and soon expensive, especially on short notice. I could see that one being shared among a trio of the Pac-12, the MW, and C-USA.

Birmingham is one I see flipping to the Big 12. Maybe Big 12/ACC/SEC. Big 12 has more schools and needs more tie ins.

All the others are part of a pool, as you said. Maybe the AAC gets preference in the Gasparilla because of the Florida schools. Hard to say. The others are random.

For the backup tie ins like the Liberty and Independence, the SBC may cause a problem. The Independence in particular is surrounded by SBC West schools. The SBC got stronger, and it's hard to say the AAC did. Somewhere with the bowl tie ins, not in every case, the SBC might get an edge. Like, the #2 or #3 SBC may get connected with a bowl game over the AAC #5 or #6. I don't think that is at all outrageous.

BTW, the SBC does have a second "certainty" tie in in addition to New Orleans. The Mobile Bowl gets the #5 choice for the Sun Belt in a game against a MAC school. They're not part of the ESPN Bowl Pool because they're independently owned, like the NO Bowl is.

(10-04-2022 08:03 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  I mean honestly who the hell cares? At this point I'll never go to another ECU bowl game again unless it's within easy driving distance or it's the access bowl/playoff. At this point I think the only 2 bowls that fall into those categories are the Military Bowl and the Myrtle Beach Bowl. I'm not driving 10 hours or flying to watch ECU play a 6-6 P5 team or an 8-4/9-3 G5 team, both are completely unappealing to me at this point.

This is the correct answer. Beyond the NY6 and a handful of others they're interchangeable and usually not very interesting.

(10-04-2022 02:22 PM)b2b Wrote:  

(10-04-2022 08:03 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  I mean honestly who the hell cares? At this point I'll never go to another ECU bowl game again unless it's within easy driving distance or it's the access bowl/playoff. At this point I think the only 2 bowls that fall into those categories are the Military Bowl and the Myrtle Beach Bowl. I'm not driving 10 hours or flying to watch ECU play a 6-6 P5 team or an 8-4/9-3 G5 team, both are completely unappealing to me at this point.

This is the correct answer. Beyond the NY6 and a handful of others they're interchangeable and usually not very interesting.

I'm the opposite. Last bit of CFB before 7.5 months without it. The first three months after CFB are winter, which I hate. I relish bowl season.

(10-04-2022 08:18 AM)Thewavefan Wrote:  

(10-04-2022 07:18 AM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(10-04-2022 07:04 AM)Thewavefan Wrote:  The AAC should be trying to take a step forward by playing bowls with conferences like the SEC, Big Ten, and ACC. Playing a school from the SBC is a giant step back and I truly hope we don’t make that mistake.

Yeah more bowls vs the SEC, B1G and ACC would be great, but they've never had much interest in playing us, and with us losing UH. UCF and Cincy and adding a big pile of CUSA teams, that interest is IMO likely to diminish further still.

So I think more ties with the SBC are in our future. We'll see.

I would rather see us play against fellow AAC teams in a bowl than watch us play glorified high school teams with no markets and no academics from the SBC but I guess it’s out of our control at this point.

Good to see your shtick hasn't change. Good job bruh.

Ive long thought the New Orleans Bowl would be a good grab. Good fun destination with good December weather and an indoor stadium. Its also within reasonable driving range for several teams in the league. Originally, I wanted the SB champ there vs the best team we have that does not have a P5 opponent. So, if we had 3 bowls with P5 opponents----the Nola would get our 4th best team vs their champ. Might not be able to get that matchup every year as the SB might start getting some P5 opportunities----but the CCG runner up would be an acceptable substitute. Allowing the Nola selection committee to select the "best AAC team with no P5 bowl opponent" would create a solid team pool for the Nola Bowl selection committee while still allowing the AAC to work for fill in slots vs P5 opponents should one come available.

(10-04-2022 01:29 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(10-04-2022 10:42 AM)slhNavy91 Wrote:  Conferences' number of bowl tie-ins are established based on average number of bowl-eligible teams over a previous run of years. The AAC has 7 slots for eleven teams based on that....

Today, the American has:
Military Bowl vs ACC
Fenway Bowl vs ACC
Armed Forces Bowl (even years) / Hawaii Bowl (odd years) alternating.

and that's all the true tie-ins. Four from the pool of:
Birmingham Bowl (past true tie-in, and the website lists AAC,SEC,ACC)
Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl (past true tie-in, but website lists 8 confs + BYU + Army; however, American has missed only ONE Gasparilla since the conference emerged from the Big East's ashes)
SERVPRO First Responder Bowl
Cheribundi Boca Raton Bowl
Frisco Bowl
AutoNation Cure Bowl
Myrtle Beach Bowl
New Mexico Bowl

My theory is that the Birmingham Bowl has some kind of preferential pick within the pool, and Gasparilla might as well. That would be four or five tie-ins / preferences with the bottom two going into the true whirlpool. We also have backups with the Liberty Bowl and the Independence (not "pool" bowls) which HAVE been implemented in the past.

Sidebar -- Sun Belt is actually fortunate in one way to have true bowl tie-ins for five of five. Even better if you get a sixth that is named, rather than just "pool." That makes last minute planning for fans a little easier.

So what would the American lose when things are being re-negotiated in three years or so.

Not the Military Bowl.
Fenway? Interesting point about the BigTen - they love to cater to their northeast corridor alumni bases. But I don't see it yet...

Why would Birmingham lean away from an AAC adding the host team?

Armed Forces Bowl is supposed to have autonomy conference participation, but has only had that 60% of the time -- unlikely to be "stolen" for autonomy vs autonomy (and the American and mwc have good trump cards for the Armed Forces Bowl).
Gasparilla MAYBE we lose a "pool preference" type opportunity to one of the expanded bigs -- the true tie-in is already history. But it's early in the calendar and the American has a track record with it.

Looking at it from another direction...The autonomy conferences start with the NY6 juggling, then they have solid tie-ins at the next level (Citrus, Outback, etc), and then there ends up being horse-trading, and they each leave bowls at the third tier (or lower) unfilled each year. That's why the backups with the Liberty or Independence come through. So now that they're each larger by a couple teams...do they reach down to the third tier or lower for a deal they leave unfilled as often as not? Or do we just lose hope in the backup deals like Liberty and Independence? ..

Your original question of a potential AAC vs Sun Belt New Orleans Bowl?
Sure, that could be a certainty, replacing a "pool" slot. That certainty is probably better for us as a conference than wondering about some pool of Cure/Myrtle/Frisco.

Okay, heck of a rebuttal. Kudos.

I think the seven bowl spots were provided when the AAC had 12 teams (UConn). However, UConn was pretty useless from a bowl participation standpoint, so seven bowl spots for 11 schools is fine.

Honestly, and I really am not trying to troll, but I think the AAC would be doing very well if it manages to get 8 slots for 14 schools. The six incoming members haven't been winning at clip the outgoing members have been doing. I don't know. We'll see.

You make a good point about the Military Bowl with Navy being the host. I'd love to see that game split between the SBC and AAC since the SBC has several schools not all that far from Annapolis, but, yeah, your point is probably spot on. AAC vs. ACC in Annapolis.

Fenway I'm a little pessimistic about the AAC's chances of maintaining that one. The B1G may get that one against the ACC. Personally, it seems like a silly place for a bowl game given the weather and lack of enthusiasm for CFB there; a second Atlanta or Charlotte bowl game instead would make more sense to me. But that's another issue.

Armed Forces. Yeah, that isn't going anywhere. Not only is there the Navy connection, there's an abundance of AAC schools in driving distance. And it's good to have a bowl game in Texas, anyway.

Hawaii Bowl... I don't know. Do you even want that one? It's paradise, but soooo far and soon expensive, especially on short notice. I could see that one being shared among a trio of the Pac-12, the MW, and C-USA.

Birmingham is one I see flipping to the Big 12. Maybe Big 12/ACC/SEC. Big 12 has more schools and needs more tie ins.

All the others are part of a pool, as you said. Maybe the AAC gets preference in the Gasparilla because of the Florida schools. Hard to say. The others are random.

For the backup tie ins like the Liberty and Independence, the SBC may cause a problem. The Independence in particular is surrounded by SBC West schools. The SBC got stronger, and it's hard to say the AAC did. Somewhere with the bowl tie ins, not in every case, the SBC might get an edge. Like, the #2 or #3 SBC may get connected with a bowl game over the AAC #5 or #6. I don't think that is at all outrageous.

BTW, the SBC does have a second "certainty" tie in in addition to New Orleans. The Mobile Bowl gets the #5 choice for the Sun Belt in a game against a MAC school. They're not part of the ESPN Bowl Pool because they're independently owned, like the NO Bowl is.

I honestly misread something somewhere...I thought you had all five tie ins with by-name-certainty and I was talking about a second certainty on OUR side. I now see pool-N.O.-pool-pool-Mobile for the Sun Belt and it looks like both N.O. and Mobile have a defined conference for the opponent as well. That still seems a little better than all uncertain pool.
Any word on a sixth? Adding a third certain tie, or adding another to the pool for four matchups (thus totaling six)?

The two pool listings are interesting to look at also.
Sun Belt lists Camellia and Idaho Potato Bowls, which the AAC's pool does not include. And the previously discussed Birmingham and Gasparilla aren't in the Sun Belt release - I would say that supports my line of thinking there is at least some degree of preference for the AAC in those two.

Hawaii Bowl is interesting. As you say, pain to get out to on 2-3 weeks notice. They haven't really garnered from the PAC recently -- and if the PAC stays at 10 (or worse) they won't be in the market for more. It's an odd pairing for the AAC to alternate - Hawaii and Ft Worth. I will say this: Navy or the other two Brand X academies are the only schools outside of Hawaii that will sell out an allotment to that bowl. I'm not saying Navy fans would upend Christmas plans to fly out there en masse. But in addition to grads and fans who ARE on the island, Navy's impressive bowl ticket sales since 2003 are in part due to "buy a ticket for a local servicemember" sales pitches. I could relate my 1996 Aloha Bowl stories if anyone asks. ONE reason for Hawaii to want the AAC might have led to AAC saying "yes" to horse trade other stuff.

Independence Bowl - Big12 might take over BYU's every other year slot. That's a win win without anyone's backup status being hit. Liberty, between Memphis and Navy seems a reasonable "hang on to backup" chance for the American.

You do have me thinking more about Fenway (Big 10 alum factor) and Gasparilla/Birmingham...but I still think those arguments against them being poaching targets still apply.

I guess my bottom line is there are still too many unknowns at the macro-levels of CFP expansion to start talking about this bowl or that bowl.

(10-04-2022 02:25 PM)Michael in Raleigh Wrote:  

(10-04-2022 02:22 PM)b2b Wrote:  

(10-04-2022 08:03 AM)b0ndsj0ns Wrote:  I mean honestly who the hell cares? At this point I'll never go to another ECU bowl game again unless it's within easy driving distance or it's the access bowl/playoff. At this point I think the only 2 bowls that fall into those categories are the Military Bowl and the Myrtle Beach Bowl. I'm not driving 10 hours or flying to watch ECU play a 6-6 P5 team or an 8-4/9-3 G5 team, both are completely unappealing to me at this point.

This is the correct answer. Beyond the NY6 and a handful of others they're interchangeable and usually not very interesting.

I'm the opposite. Last bit of CFB before 7.5 months without it. The first three months after CFB are winter, which I hate. I relish bowl season.

This, though, THIS is a bottom line I can get behind.

I certainly don't watch ALL the bowl games any longer. But I can recall deployments or just living with the family overseas figuring out what to watch live on AFN at odd hours and what delayed...bowls can give you a matchup you'd never see otherwise, or they can rekindle a rivalry lost to realignment...the biggest thing, they just ARE the backdrop for the whole holiday season -- my family, both sides of my wife's family, the bowl games are there whether you need to distract from an uncle's crazy conspiracy theory or open the conversation with a cousin's new boyfriend with an easy "who do you like in this game?" leading to "where you from?" and "who is your team?"
And the fact that it's the last you'll get until August?


I will never understand the "too many bowl games" crowd.