November 18, 2008

Notre Dame is going to the Gator Bowl

The Gator Bowl folks won't say it outloud, but its almost a lock that Notre Dame is headed to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville to face off against not-even-Nostradamus-can-predict-who from the ACC. (Actually, that ACC opponent isn't much of a secret either, but I digress.)

The reason I can be so certain, even though I have no affiliation (real or imaginary) with the Gator Bowl and/or Notre Dame? It's two-fold.

#1 - The Gator Bowl had it's 39th best (read: 24th worst) attendance last year for the Virginia - Texas Tech game. The announced crowd was more than 17,000 short of capacity... and that was the ANNOUNCED attendance. The bowl, with just two games remaining on existing contracts, needs to guarantee some attendance & viewership and -- in college football -- that means Notre Dame.

On a side note, this is also why the Gator Bowl may make any deal necessary to ensure Florida State or Miami ends up in Jacksonville, as well. Remember, the bowl committee still harbors some issues with the ACC for moving the championship game. There's an undercurrent there and the ACC needs to make nice with the Gator Bowl committee. A deal will get done for the Noles or Canes. I'm almost certain of it.

#2 - The Gator Bowl's crazy love-triangle conference affiliations (Big East, Big 12, & Notre Dame) provide for the Gator Bowl to take a Big 12 team and a Big East/Notre Dame in the two remaining years of its contract. Since the Big 2 of the Big 12 aren't available this season, the Gator Bowl would take a bowl-eligible Notre Dame over any team from the Big East, as per reason #1 above. There's no doubt that the Gator Bowl would love to get a Texas or Oklahoma in the game, but they can roll the dice this year and hope to get lucky in 2009.

So... while nothing is official until... it's official, I'm here to tell you it's official, for all intents and purposes.

For the complete 2008-2009 college football bowl schedule, see our bowl games page.

Comments:

Notre Dame is going to the Gator Bowl
The Gator Bowl folks won't say it outloud, but its almost a lock that Notre Dame is headed to the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville to face off against not-even-Nostradamus-can-predict-who from the ACC. (Actually, that ACC opponent isn't much of a secret either, but I digress.) The reason I can be so certain, even though I have no affiliation (real or imaginary) with the Gator Bowl and/or Notre Dame? It's two-fold. #1 - The Gator Bowl had it's 39th best (read: 24th worst) attendance last year for the Virginia - Texas Tech game. The announced crowd was more than 17,000 short of capacity... and that was the ANNOUNCED attendance. The bowl, with just two games remaining on existing contracts, needs to guarantee some attendance & viewership and -- in college football -- that means Notre Dame. On a side note, this is also why the Gator Bowl may make any deal necessary to ensure Florida State or Miami ends up in Jacksonville, as well. Remember, the bowl committee still harbors some issues with the ACC for moving the championship game. There's an undercurrent there and the ACC needs to make nice with the Gator Bowl committee. A deal will get done for the Noles or Canes. I'm almost certain of it. #2 - The Gator Bowl's crazy love-triangle conference affiliations (Big East, Big 12, & Notre Dame) provide for the Gator Bowl to take a Big 12 team and a Big East/Notre Dame in the two remaining years of its contract. Since the Big 2 of the Big 12 aren't available this season, the Gator Bowl would take a bowl-eligible Notre Dame over any team from the Big East, as per reason #1 above. There's no doubt that the Gator Bowl would love to get a Texas or Oklahoma in the game, but they can roll the dice this year and hope to get lucky in 2009. So... while nothing is official until... it's official, I'm here to tell you it's official, for all intents and purposes. For the complete 2008-2009 college football bowl schedule, see our bowl games page.