I just got back from men’s basketball media day* at Madison Square Garden. I couldn’t help but note how when it comes to football, the league almost has to be in a defensive posture, but then when it’s basketball time, the league can - and rightly so – totally strut. In any case, we talked a lot of basketball and over the next week, we’ll hopefully have a lot of video to share with you. But it IS football season. Which means football has to come up too.
South Florida senior guard Chris Howard said Bulls quarterback BJ Daniels – a reserve on the basketball team – definitely has game. “He’s just a great all-around athlete,” Howard said. “I just wish we could’ve won last week”
“We” being USF’s football team, which fell to no. 5 Cincinnati, which is the football team representing Deonta Vaughn’s school. Vaughn, another senior guard, said he’s been having fun with football’s success. Only, “Cincinnati is supposed to be a basketball school.” Hmmm…
The real meaty conversation, though, was with commissioner John Marinatto. We talked about the BCS and Cincinnati’s run and Jasper Howard’s murder, but the quick news now is that the Big East’s bowl line-up could fill out by the end of the week. Or by the end of December. Basically, Marinatto said, talks are constant.
As it stands now, the Big East has its BCS berth, the Champs Sports Bowl, the Meineke Car Care Bowl and the Yankee Bowl set. The league would like two more set spots (a third is unreasonable – who’s going to want a seventh-pick Big East team?) and the ones the Big East has most recently been affiliated with - the Papajohns.com Bowl, the St. Petersburg Bowl and the International Bowl – are all still on the table as options.
Marinatto said the league has talked to other bowls, but is not necessarily “in talks” with other bowls. The first-year commissioner said the league is heavily evaluating the previous three mentioned, but that there’s genuinely no leader, or trailer, right now. He said the league weighs three factors: geography (how well the league’s schools are suited to go to a site), destination-ness (how desirable a locale is the bowl in) and quality opponent (a BCS foe is always better than non-BCS foe). Marinatto said there’s no ranking of the three factors, just that there are three.
I don’t quite know what my money’s on for those three. I would guess the Papajohns.com because they’re offering an SEC opponent and the St. Petersburg because the Big East started that bowl. Which might disappoint reader – and Toronto resident – Chris M. On the other hand, if the International Bowl suddenly finds a taker in the Big Ten, that could change everything. What do you think? What are the two best options to finish out the Big East bowl slate?
*I covered the women for a long time and hey, I’m a girl - of course I don’t think it’s fair to designate one basketball and the other a modified basketball.
Aditi– Great chat on StateOfRutgers.com! I wasn’t able to get home for it, but I read the transcript.
I think the bowls that are already set are a significant improvement from the past 4 years. The Champs is a great bowl, and besides, wouldn’t you rather go to Orlando than Jacksonville? Easier travel, lots of hotel options and plenty to do while you’re there. Plus, the 2nd Big East against the 3rd ACC is a legitimate premier match-up that will attract viewers. The fact that it’s not on a crowded New Years Day is a potential plus. It’s still after Xmas.
I think the Gator Bowl is losing prestige. They’re getting a 3rd rate Big 10-SEC match instead of a top ACC/B-E match. They will struggle for attention on a busy New Years Day, and in 4 years they will regret how shabbily they treated the ACC and Big East.
The Meineke Bowl doesn’t sound too good on it’s face, but it’s run very well, pays well, and it’s easy-to-get-to location almost always results in a heavily filled stadium.
The Yankee Bowl has the potential to become a premier bowl in a few years. I’m not crazy about the match-up. The Big 12 #7 isn’t exactly premier competition. This will be the only outdoor bowl game played in a cold weather city, and that alone will make it intriguing (plus it will provide a natural home field advantage for every Big East team except South Florida). I’m still wondering when the game will be played, and what the TV coverage will look like, but I think it shows a lot of promise and a good payoff.
What’s left? I think the St. Petersburg Bowl is going to stay for 4 more years at least. It’s not a great matchup, but the location makes for some very attractive South Florida matchups. They’re building a new stadium, and it’s easy to travel to. That’s a hard combination to pass up.
I think the other one is the PapaJohn’s Bowl. I’ve heard that the SEC is negotiating more money to bump it up in their bowl order. Overall it’s not as nice a field as any of the other bowls, but they’ve been working with the conferences to improve the payouts and matchups which means a lot.
I like the International Bowl, but I think it’s a failed experiment. The passport requirement makes it difficult to travel to (for me it was impossible), and the location leaves a lot to be desired. I’m told that the Canadians really liked having the game there, but I really don’t think they can compete in the long run.