Bowl Bias

[77GTFan]

My paranoia against the ACC and its bias for NC schools, followed by original ACC schools, is at a high level for so early in the morning. Today's Raleigh paper has an article on the hard work being done by league exec Michael Kelly to insure a bowl for NCSU, Clemson, and UVA if all become bowl eligible. I agree the league should work on behalf of its members, but have serious doubts that their work for GT, Miami, or BC would be so diligent.

Bowl officials are quoted or paraphrased in the article with what I consider to be ridiculous ideas, including the Gator's consideration of UNC and Clemson???

The worst was by Meineke Bowl's Will Webb who said he envisioned no scenario where an eligible NC State and Clemson would be overlooked. Why would they skip over better ACC teams to pick a 6-6 team? Is it fair for a 6-6 Wolfpack team to go to Charlotte and better teams head out West? The article listed these schools as "attractive" to the Charlotte bowl in this order - UNC, Wake, N C State, Clemson, Va tech, and Maryland.

Admittedly, I am ready for us to go to Tampa then Miami. But, I am tired of a bowl scenario in which the local bowl in Atlanta is reluctant to choose us but loves to choose the Dawgs and Gary Stokan has already been quoted as calling UNC the "gold standard" among ACC programs to invite, a quote I still can't fathom, and the Charlotte bowl obviously does not consider us an attractive option.

 

[law_bee]

this is a business pure and simple. Clemson takes a ton of people so they are good bowl get. That being said I think CPJ is creating some buzz which should help us.

Win and we will know every year which bowl we get.

 

[BLEEDGOLD]

And with all that logic, that bowl will linger in mediocrity for years and years and will never be in the same category at Atlanta's Chicken Bowl. This sounds like an extension of a season for local teams and not a bowl game. And if Tech ever gets invited to this bowl, I am quite sure Tech will show up in droves since it is an easy drive from the ATL. It gets so dang old hearing/reading that Tech fans don't travel. Hogwash! The BC game this year had thousands of fans who made the trip and that was with a new coach and offense. We travelled because we love our Yellow Jackets. Think back to the Gator Bowl in '99 against ND. We owned that stadium! The next year again against the almighty "U", we came back again and yet Miami brought their equivalent of a high school contingent.
Virginia travels well? VT? Carolina? NCState? Throw them out west and see just how well they travel....it's irrelevent. The ACC needs bowls EAST of the ole river and in the Southland.
The Tire Bowl needs to do some serious rethinking and understand that a bowl needs a reason for bein'....what is there to do before the game....for the teams and the fans....oh, I forgot, this one is in Charlotte....so much to do there anyway. The ACC powers that be (meaning the little girl) needs to exert some power and start pushing bowls for the sake of building up the ACC and not being conceived as a lesser conference when it comes to bowls. And one last thing, doesn't Tech bring some of the absolute loudest and in-your-face fans to away games? HELL YES!

 

[yellowbritchies]

Believe me,the Carolina Cartel will always be looking out for any Carolina school when it comes to bowls.Gary Stokian is no friend of Georgia Tech's and the Chick Fil A people would rather take a sharp poke to the eye than have Tech playing in the Chick Fil A bowl. Tech may be in Atlanta, but they will always be an outsider to the local bowl officials and Stokian's Atlanta Sports Council.

 

[ncjacket]

The league has always worked to make sure every eligible team has a bowl bid. Someone can do the research but I think we've sent every eligible team except for Clemson the year they had the fight with USC. The point this year is we may need an extra slot or two.

As far as the Charlotte bowl, there's no doubt that they are ticket sales whores. They don't care about hotel rooms or TV ratings...they simply want to fill the stadium. They've said it in public. The easiest way for them to do it is to have UNC, State or Clemson because their fans will drive in for the game, fill it up and then go home. It will always be a medicore bowl.

 

[WracerX]

The league has always worked to make sure every eligible team has a bowl bid. Someone can do the research but I think we've sent every eligible team except for Clemson the year they had the fight with USC. The point this year is we may need an extra slot or two.

As far as the Charlotte bowl, there's no doubt that they are ticket sales whores. They don't care about hotel rooms or TV ratings...they simply want to fill the stadium. They've said it in public. The easiest way for them to do it is to have UNC, State or Clemson because their fans will drive in for the game, fill it up and then go home. It will always be a medicore bowl.

Yeah, that is how we ended in the Nut bowl one year. It wasn't an ACC bowl at the time. I'm not sure how many teams we can send to bowls, but I think UVA and NCSt could still get to 6 wins.

The PAC-10 could have as few as 5 or 6 bowl eligible teams. They could also send 2 to the BCS. So any extra ACC teams will probably end up in low end west coast bowls.

 

[gth816f]

We have nine bowl tie-ins this year, and eight after that(we are ending our affiliation with the Boise bowl). I was also under the impression that no 6-6 team could be taken until all teams above .500 were taken, but I could be wrong on that one.

I also never got my question answered about how we ended up in the Gator Bowl a couple years back. I had heard that they were trying to skip over us but the ACC administration(Swofford? someone else?) really hammered them over it and they ended up taking us. If that's the case, it sounds like they're working pretty hard for us, too.

 

[JWE37]

I also never got my question answered about how we ended up in the Gator Bowl a couple years back. I had heard that they were trying to skip over us but the ACC administration(Swofford? someone else?) really hammered them over it and they ended up taking us. If that's the case, it sounds like they're working pretty hard for us, too.

There is a rule that a team cannot be "jumped" in bowl pecking order by a team with 2 more losses. We were 7-1 that year and Clemson was 5-3 if I remember correctly. It all started after the '05 season though when us and BC got shafted in bowl pecking order.

 

[GTSaxophone]

We have nine bowl tie-ins this year, and eight after that(we are ending our affiliation with the Boise bowl). I was also under the impression that no 6-6 team could be taken until all teams above .500 were taken, but I could be wrong on that one.

I also never got my question answered about how we ended up in the Gator Bowl a couple years back. I had heard that they were trying to skip over us but the ACC administration(Swofford? someone else?) really hammered them over it and they ended up taking us. If that's the case, it sounds like they're working pretty hard for us, too.

Yes, no 7-5 team can get jumped by a 6-6 team for a bowl. However, I'm not entirely sure how the "two 1-AA teams" factors in. I believe it just takes away one of your wins, making a 7-5 team a 6-5 team in the eyes of bowl selection.

As far as 2006, I'm fairly sure that there was some lobbying needed on our behalf to get us to the Gator Bowl. They were hesitant to put us there because we were in the city for the ACCCG already.

 

[WracerX]

Yes, no 7-5 team can get jumped by a 6-6 team for a bowl. However, I'm not entirely sure how the "two 1-AA teams" factors in. I believe it just takes away one of your wins, making a 7-5 team a 6-5 team in the eyes of bowl selection.

As far as 2006, I'm fairly sure that there was some lobbying needed on our behalf to get us to the Gator Bowl. They were hesitant to put us there because we were in the city for the ACCCG already.

Within the ACC, there is the one loss rule. Meaning a team can't jump you if they have more than one more ACC loss than you do. So this year, we can get jumped by any 4-4 ACC team (which is just about everybody).

The NCAA rule is that a bowl has to take a 7-5 team before any 6-6 team, UNLESS the conference has a deal with the bowl. So a 6-6 UVa team could get in ahead of a 7-5 Tulsa team, if the ACC has a deal with the bowl. That is where the conference comes in. If UVa gets to 6-6 and needs a bowl, look for the ACC to sign some sort of short term deal with the Oakland bail bond bowl.

The ACC does look to make sure all of its teams gets a bowl. But the current bowl selection also puts Tech out of the Peach and Charlotte bowls.

If we make the ACC championship game, I think we go to the Orange. If we beat UGa, we go to the Gator or Tampa. Lose to UGa, and we probably head to Nashville.

 

[gtfan1147]

Every ACC team that gets eligible this year will be no worse than 4-4. Clemson is 4-4, and UVA and NCST will get to 4-4 with wins. That said, no team will finish better than 5-3. So everybody will technically be eligible to jump everybody else.

EDIT: It is possible that 7-5 UNC would finish 3-5 in the ACC with a loss to Duke. But everyone else would finish at least 4-4.

 

[stinger78]

I also never got my question answered about how we ended up in the Gator Bowl a couple years back. I had heard that they were trying to skip over us but the ACC administration(Swofford? someone else?) really hammered them over it and they ended up taking us. If that's the case, it sounds like they're working pretty hard for us, too.

Swofford did go to bat for us that year, but only because of the black eye and institutional repercussions that would have ensued for the ACC had the conference runner-up and 9-game winner been relegated to the Champs Bowl, which is where we were heading. (Of course, all this was due to the muddle-headed play calling of one Patrick Nix, and the obstinance of the Chicken Bowl.)