Music men

The future conference affiliations for the second- and third-tier bowls are falling into place. It looks like the ACC is close to locking up a relationship with the Music City Bowl. The ACC rep would face a SEC rep. This could create a little overlap with the Peach Bowl pairings, but it is better than going out to Boise.

Despite my presence, BC did not travel well to the 2001 Music City Bowl. It was a great game and TOB’s first win over a ranked opponent.

In reading all of these bowl articles, I’ve notice a common theme -- every committee plans on moving their date closer to New Year’s Day. This façade is funny to me. Like playing in the MienkeCarquestInsightGMAC Bowl is much more prestigious on December 30 as opposed to December 27. And that the date is the only reason people don’t travel to these games. The fact is that they are disappointments for many fans. When the whole season is built around conference championships and BCS games, it is hard to get the juices flowing for the third-level games. And as much as the committees want the 30th or 31st, ESPN is still calling the shots. They can only broadcast so many games and would rather have a Bowl Week, not a Bowl Long Weekend. As long as ESPN is the only game in town, Music City will be played whenever Bristol deems it appropriate.