The American Athletic Conference and the Sun Belt Conference have announced that teams from the two conferences will meet up starting in 2015 in the inaugural Cure Bowl. The contest will take place in Orlando, Florida in the newly renovated Citrus Bowl.
According to press releases by both conferences, the Cure Bowl will work closely with charitable organizations striving to find cures for breast cancer. The newly announced game will give Orlando 3 bowl matchups starting in 2015, along with the Capital One and Russell Athletic Bowls.
Since the 2005-2006 season, 11 more bowl games have been added to the schedule, which raises the grand total of postseason matchups to 39 in 2015-2016. It also raises the issue of having 78 bowl eligible teams. Prior to the 2012 season, schools needed to win six contests to become bowl eligible, and according to ESPN, “a sixth win against a Football Championship Subdivision team only counts if the FCS school meets scholarship requirements.”
Due in part, no doubt, to the massive explosion in bowl games over the past decade, the NCAA made changes to its bowl eligibility requirements during the summer of 2012. The following conditions now allow schools to become bowl candidates:
- One win over any FCS school counts.
- Schools that have two wins over FCS schools can become eligible if there’s a shortage of available teams.
- Squads that finish 6-7 but lost their conference game (such as UCLA in 2011).
- 6-7 teams that played a 13-game schedule, which typically involves the Hawaii Exemption.
- If desperate enough, the NCAA could invite FCS teams transitioning to FBS if they possess a 6-6 record.
Do you think the amount of bowl games is getting out of control or do you enjoy watching all the postseason action during December and January?
2014-15 College Football Bowl Schedule
Andy Coffaro is a contributor to FBSchedules.com. Follow him on Twitter @andycoffaro and LinkedIn.