The 2011-12 College Football Bowl Schedule was officially released today by the Football Bowl Association. The FBA represents college football’s 35 postseason games and all the excitement that is the bowl season.
The bowl season kicks off on Saturday, December 17 at 2:00 p.m. ET with the New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque. This year’s matchup will feature the Pac-12 no. 7 seed against the no. 4 or 5 team from the MWC.
The Allstate BCS National Championship Game concludes the college football season on Monday, January 9, 2012 at 8:30 p.m. ET. The game, which features the BCS no. 1 vs. BCS no. 2, will be played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.
Due to the NFL lockout, no bowl games will be played on New Year’s Day. The Rose Bowl Game, Capital One Bowl, Outback Bowl, Progressive Gator Bowl and TicketCity Bowl will all be played on Monday, January 2, 2012.
Maybe I’m the only one who will think this, but I fully believe the Humanitarian Bowl and the Independence Bowl should swap conferences. It makes no sense for the WAC to play in the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise when Boise State is in the MWC and it makes no sense for the MWC to play in the Independence Bowl when Louisiana Tech is in the WAC. Swap those two and your conferences would keep the same amount of bowls, the same amount of money, and would expend less on travel costs.
Of course the WAC is in bad shape though. They’ve lost the New Mexico Bowl to the Pac-12, they’re going to lose the Hawai’i Bowl to the MWC, and the Independents (Army, Navy, BYU) have basically stolen the WAC’s spot in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.
Couple quick points…
1.) Louisiana Tech is in Reston, not Shreveport, and doesn’t use Independence Stadium.
2.) Most Idaho grads live in Boise, and appreciate the opportunity to play in that bowl.
3.) Another WAC school, Utah State, also enjoys having a semi-close bowl (comparatively).
4.) The Independence Bowl likes to pretend it’s more important than it is, and would prefer the MWC over the lowly WAC.
5.) Overall, I more or less agree that the bowls should be flipped or rearranged, but I disagree with your reasoning.
I’m going to respond to a few of your points.
1) It doesn’t matter that Louisiana Tech is in Reston. Are you really trying to tell me La. Tech fans wouldn’t prefer driving across the state over flying to Boise? For that matter are you really trying to tell me that fans from Air Force, Colorado State, Wyoming, and other MWC schools wouldn’t prefer going to Boise over flying to Louisiana?
With 2 and 3) Utah State and Idaho are close to Boise, but do you realize how far it is for New Mexico State, Louisiana Tech, and those that will be joining in 2012: Texas- San Antonio and Texas State? Shreveport is a much closer site for more than half the conference that will be participating in football (4 of 7). It actually would cost more for those 4 teams to fly to Boise for the Humanitarian Bowl than it would for Utah State or Idaho to fly to Shreveport (out of Seattle and Salt Lake) because Boise is regarded as a second tier International Airport and limits the number of flights in and out. Also, you have to consider this- the MWC is eventually going to get the Humanitarian Bowl over the WAC because Boise State is the host campus. When the current contract expires they’ve already admitted that it will go to the MWC. It’d be better for the WAC to get a bowl to replace it, and one that’s close for more than half of the conference would be a good fit.
4) Most Bowl Games will always pretend they are more important than they actually are. Remember the Las Vegas Bowl these past two seasons made it a match of 2 Top 25 teams despite taking place in the first week of Bowl season to try and show off its importance. For most Bowl Games it is a matter of drawing fans so they can earn money, and getting a host school always draws the fans to a Bowl. About the only bowl that doesn’t have a state school that could be in it is the Independence Bowl, though the Humanitarian Bowl is now in the same shape because of Boise State moving to the MWC.
5) The WAC needs to act fast at trying to find a bowl because they are down to 3 bowl games and could easily fall to just 1 in the Poinsettia Bowl if the Hawaii and Humanitarian Bowls switch to the MWC, as both are expected to when current contracts expire.
where is the IOWA BOWL? they should also have a bowl game on Alcatraz Island, and in puerto rico