Since we know BC will never be selected for the top bowls, the only options are playing our way into the Orange or getting sent down to the afterthought bowls. The ACC has some new bowl affiliations this year, so I thought we should take the time to learn about our likely destinations. This will be a series of posts over the summer. Part I is the Independence Bowl.
Bowl: AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl
Named Sponsor: AdvoCare V100. Advocare is a over the counter multivitamin and mineral supplement. Their current claim to fame is that they are not banned by the NCAA! I would hope not. I am guessing the bowl goodie bag will be filled with powders and vitamins that you can only find at GNC. This is a sponsor any Strength and Conditioning coach should love.
History: The Independence Bowl has a fairly decent history. It has been played since 1976 and is the 9th oldest in college football. Although it has never been a major bowl, some of college football's elite programs have made stops in Shreveport along the way, including Notre Dame, Washington, LSU, Georgia and Nebraska.
Opposing Conference: The Mountain West. So we could likely see some teams we have played in recent years like BYU or Colorado State.
Date: Monday, December 27 at 4:30 pm. That's a tough slot to make for anyone. I don't think I would be able to swing it. Fortunately the game is on ESPN.
Location: Shreveport, Louisiana. Let me first state that the goal of this series is not to mock the bowl hosts. That said, Shreveport is a really bad spot for a bowl game. It is hard to get to for most fans on the east coast. It has the chance to be real cold during the game. There are some historical sites to check out and a collection of third-rate casinos, but that's about it. It is not like you could even stay in New Orleans and drive to the game -- they are 400 miles apart.
Not so Fun Fact: Last year when Georgia played in the Independence Bowl, the strip clubs in Shreveport were advertising on the Atlanta sports radio stations...so we have that to look forward to.
Prediction: We are going to the Independence Bowl. I will publish the whole series and hope for an ACC championship, but I think we end of here regardless of our record.
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13 comments:
To say that the casinos are third rate is probably being generous to the casinos.
Other than bickering about quality of the casinos this is a well put analysis of the pitfalls of Shreveport as a bowl destination.
It's great that it's not even June 27 and it's not too early to be thinking about the logistics for getting to a December 27th bowl game.
God I hope we make the Orange Bowl.
Can Marscovetra be our savior?
Don't punch our ticket yet, there's still a season to play. I for one, would rather analyze Orange Bowl travel plans...
BravesATL -- You are so glum in your prediction, and you make this rotten prediction even before the season has begun. Boy oh Boy! Why not pick the Eagle Bank bowl if you are intent on scraping the bottom of the barrel.
That's one of the troubles with posting late at night -- the demons comes out. So, now that the sun is shining, please redo your prediction.
For example, while you are right that the Chick-fil-A people will never take a northerner, and Champs and Meineke might be tough too, the Brut Sun bowl is possible, as is the Music city. Wouldn't a BC v Stanford Sun Bowl be more interesting for viewers than say NCSU or MD vs Stanford?? Would more Wake fans than BC fans go to El Paso??
In fact, the usual reason for BC getting snubbed -- local southern fans will drive to the southern based bowls in droves and thus greatly outnumber the number of BC fan who might attend -- does not apply to the Sun Bowl because it is a 1700 mile (25 hour) drive from the heart of ACC country (NC) to El Paso. (Boston is only 819 miles away). So its not like the yahoos from Clemson or FSU will be driving to El Paso in great numbers.
Here is the 2010-11 ACC Bowl pecking order:
1. OrangeBowl
1a. Other BCS bowl
2. Chick-fil-A Bowl (Atlanta) (vs SEC)
3 Champs Sports Bowl (Orlando) (vs BE)
4 Brut Sun Bowl (El Paso) (vs PAC-10)
5 Meineke Car Care Bowl (Charlotte) (vs BE)
6 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl (Nashville)(vs SEC?)
7 Advocare 100 Independence Bowl (shreveport) (vs MWC)
8 Eagle Bank Bowl (Wash, D.C.) (CUSA)
9. (if needed) Emerald, SF
What a downer. I just came out of a fun conversation with a Golden Eagle -- we were getting excited talking about Herzy's return -- and then I read this. Sheesh. Can't you keep your internal nattering nabob of negativity under wraps until after Shinskie's late pick-six costs us a trip to the ACC Championship?
Here's an off-topic question. Did Josh Haden find a home yet? I can't remember.
I am not going to be negative about the season prediction. I think we will do well. However, I don't see Champs or Chickfila picking us and think that Charlotte and Nashville will be allowed to bypass us.
The problem for BC and bowls is geography. Get a bowl in Burlington VT and see how many crazy Clemson fans show up (actually check that, Clemson fans always show up But you know what I mean.)
Put a bowl within 3 hours of BC to drive too and yes the fans travel.
So expect BC to continue to get hosed out of whatever booger bowl is available - unless they earn the Orange - and accept their fate in El Paso or Shreveport. (Really, are they that much worse than Nashville or Charlotte - weather wise not really.)
Thanks for the most depressing post since we found out Herzy had cancer.
this is much too pestimistic
check out my new blog
http://bostoncollegefinest.blogspot.com/
I know this post is old and I'm guessing no one will read this comment BUT...I had to go to shreveport on business a few years back and it wasn't THAT bad. Granted I had no expectations so Shreveport had nowhere to go but up but I kinda liked it. Even if the casinos are 3rd rate, they're still casinos! Found some decent food there too and everything is cheap, which is a nice change of pace for all the BC alums that live in NYC and Boston.
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