SEC Bowl Shuffle
We're now less than a week away from teams accepting their bowl bids. The SEC will land 9 teams into a bowl game this year, but will not fill the bowl slot for the BBVA Bowl in Birmingham, AL. The SEC has the best line up of bowl games, but it could be better. The following are changes I'd like to see in the SEC Bowls once Missouri and Texas A&M are added
1. The Cotton needs to be ahead of the Capital One Bowl- The Cotton Bowl is a far more historic bowl than the Capital One Bowl. Multiple National Champions have been crowed in Dallas, while the Capital One Bowl only has 1 National Champion in its history(1990 Georgia Tech). The Cotton Bowl is in a much better stadium than the old Citrus Bowl and also has a primetime TV spot and is the only game on that night. Everything about the Cotton Bowl feels like a BCS Bowl. The Capital 1 Bowl isn't even the best bowl game in Florida as I'd take a trip to Raymond James Stadium over it.
2. Drop the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham and add a Texas Bowl game- Now that Texas A&M is in the SEC, it is time for the SEC to add another Texas Bowl. Prior to adding the Liberty Bowl, the SEC actually had a bowl affiliation with the Houston Bowl, but the league was never able to fill this slot. The SEC needs to either get a bowl agreement with the Alamo or the Meineke Car Care Bowl(Houston). Both bowl games are played at far better facilities than Legion Field and the SEC needs to put its face into Texas more than it does.
3. The SEC needs to add a bowl slot- With the additions of Missouri and Texas A&M the league now has 14 teams. There are going to be years when we might see 11 teams from the conference that have 6 or more wins. If the SEC isn't able to add one of the two Texas bowls mentioned above, then a trip to Charlotte, NC at Bank of America Stadium would be far more attractive than Legion Field. The players would enjoy playing at a NFL Stadium and the bowl folks in Charlotte would love an ACC/SEC game instead of the Big East/SEC game they currently have.
4. The Outback Bowl needs to become friendly to west teams- Since 1998 only Auburn has been invited from the West by the Outback Bowl. Tampa, FL and Ybor City are great spots to spend New Years and West teams would flock to Tampa as they have to Orlando for years. The stadium is one of the nicest outdoor stadiums in the United States. This is a great bowl experience and West fans would love to come.
5. The SEC and PAC 12 should play- The PAC 12 is the only major league the SEC does not have a bowl contract with. Its not often you see these two leagues play each other, so it would be nice to have a bowl game or two feature a SEC/PAC 12 game
Matt Barber
Dixiefriedsports@gmail.com
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