November 28, 2003

TCU may skip bowl game

ESPN is carrying a piece from The Washington Post with quotes from TCU AD Eric Hyman saying that TCU would not accept an invitation to the GMAC Bowl. While Hyman is saying that the mid-week date of the GMAC bowl hurts players academically, it's worth noting that the Frogs also have two GMAC (previously known as the Mobile, AL Bowl) titles hanging on the wall.

TCU had a shot at the BCS and lost it. They had a shot at the C-USA champion slot in the Liberty Bowl and lost it. Now the Frogs are slotted for the C-USA #2 bid and they're not at all happy about it. What do the Frogs want? Hyman says TCU would like to "opt-down" and take lower C-USA bowls, perhaps the Hawaii Bowl (Dec. 25) or the home-town Fort Worth Bowl (Dec. 23).

TCU could stand to give up $750,000 from the GMAC payout and miss a pretty good matchup against a MAC team - possibly Miami (Ohio). Meanwhile, GMAC officials are stunned and don't seem to have any backup plan at all.

To me, this is TCU saying that they are gone from C-USA at the end of the season. Are they giving up the money to a school that could make better use of it? Well, maybe. Rather, it looks like the Frogs are giving the finger to the conference that didn't do a whole lot to promote them when they were ranked in the top ten nationally.