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Yesterday, we began the process of figuring out which conferences are tied to which bowl bids. With help from the Big 12, the ACC, and some reporting (mostly from Brett McMurphy), we got through nine of the 35 non-playoff FBS bowls. A quick recap of what we settled, in which “Big 12 Twelve” means the twelve current Big 12 teams who were also in the conference last year, “Old Pac-12” means last year’s Pac-12, “ACC*” means the ACC and Notre Dame, and “Old Big Ten” means last year’s Big Ten:
- Alamo Bowl: Big 12 Twelve vs. Old Pac-12
- Duke’s Mayo Bowl: ACC* vs. Old Big Ten
- Gator Bowl: ACC* vs. SEC
- Sun Bowl: ACC* vs. Old Pac-12
- Military Bowl: ACC* vs. AAC
- Pop-Tarts Bowl: ACC* vs. Big 12 Twelve
- Pinstripe Bowl: ACC* vs. Old Big Ten
- Fenway Bowl: ACC* vs. AAC
- Holiday Bowl: ACC* vs. Old Pac-12
We also established that the Big 12 Twelve are tied to the Texas Bowl, Liberty Bowl, Armed Forces Bowl, and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; that the Old Pac-12 is tied to the Las Vegas Bowl, Independence Bowl, and LA Bowl Hosted by Gronk; that the ACC* is tied to the Gasparilla Bowl/First Responder Bowl/Birmingham Bowl trio (but should only send one team to that trio), and that the Big 12 Twelve also have a possible tie to the First Responder Bowl.
Got all that?
Let’s continue.
We were reminded, as we dug through yesterday, of the ReliaQuest Bowl’s unique status. As of last year, the ReliaQuest Bowl (formerly known and still probably better known as the Outback Bowl) had a combination SEC/Big Ten/ACC tie. The SEC tie was ironclad (or as ironclad as such things can be), but the Big Ten/ACC tie depended on who went to the Orange Bowl. In scenarios in which a Big Ten team played in the Orange Bowl (meeting an ACC opponent), the ACC retained the ReliaQuest Bowl bid. In scenarios in which an SEC team went to the Orange Bowl (still playing that ACC opponent), the bid went to the Big Ten. We don’t know how long this arrangement was in place. We don’t know what happened in years when the ReliaQuest Bowl was a College Football Playoff semifinal. This is how it worked in the 2023–24 season.
This season and in all future scheduled seasons, the Orange Bowl is part of the College Football Playoff. Is the ReliaQuest Bowl still tied to it in any way?
Based on the ReliaQuest Bowl’s own website, the answer is no. It lists itself as an SEC vs. Big Ten bowl, which we take to mean it’s an SEC vs. Old Big Ten bowl. McMurphy’s projections this week also show SEC vs. Old Big Ten, so we’ll stick with that. Ten bowls down, 25 to go:
ReliaQuest Bowl: SEC vs. Old Big Ten
From here, we’re going to turn to the SEC website, where a 2022 release indicates SEC alignment with the following bowls through 2025:
- Las Vegas Bowl
- Gasparilla Bowl
- Citrus Bowl
- ReliaQuest Bowl
- Gator Bowl
- Music City Bowl
- Texas Bowl
- Liberty Bowl
- Birmingham Bowl
The SEC indicates the Citrus Bowl gets the first choice after the New Year’s Six and that the Birmingham and Gasparilla Bowls get the last choices, but we aren’t worrying about selection order just yet. Interestingly, it lists the AAC as the opponent in the Birmingham Bowl and the Gasparilla Bowl, despite the ACC’s 2020 release indicating some sort of alignment with those. The SEC does note, though, that ESPN Events selects teams for those bowls? Very unclear.
Turning to McMurphy, we confirm perceptions on matchups for the Las Vegas Bowl, Gator Bowl (already confirmed above), Texas Bowl, and Liberty Bowl, leaving us confident enough to lock those into our assortment:
- Las Vegas Bowl: SEC vs. Old Pac-12
- Texas Bowl: SEC vs. Big 12 Twelve
- Liberty Bowl: SEC vs. Big 12 Twelve
We’re curious about the Liberty Bowl because an AAC team played in it last year. Since there were only five eligible SEC teams after the New Year’s Six, though, we’re guessing the convenience of sending Memphis to its home stadium simply made the Liberty Bowl the odd one out. In other oddities, McMurphy’s showing a Big Ten/Sun Belt matchup in the Gasparilla Bowl and an SEC/ACC matchup in the Birmingham Bowl. We’re going to assume those two do have SEC ties, but that the AAC listing on the SEC’s website is erroneous.
For the Citrus Bowl and Music City Bowl, McMurphy matches the SEC’s “SEC vs. Big Ten” listing. The Citrus Bowl’s website confirms that matchup, and while the Music City Bowl’s website doesn’t say it clearly, we’re finding nothing contradicting the press releases from a few years ago which likewise labeled that an SEC vs. Big Ten bowl:
- Citrus Bowl: SEC vs. Old Big Ten
- Music City Bowl: SEC vs. Old Big Ten
That brings us to 15 confirmed bowl matchups, with 20 left to lock in.
We can’t find anything explicit from the Big Ten (or we at least can’t find it quickly), but last year, a Big Ten team played in the Quick Lane Bowl (now the GameAbove Sports Bowl) in addition to the game’s we’ve listed. Checking that game’s website, which is the website of the Detroit Lions, it does appear that’s still a Big Ten vs. MAC bowl, something McMurphy’s projections indicate as well. Let’s lock it in:
- GameAbove Sports Bowl: Old Big Ten vs. MAC
16 settled. 19 left. We’re not even halfway. What have we done.
Sticking with the MAC, since we’ve ventured into that territory, we can find a 2019 press release indicating primary partnerships with the Arizona Bowl, Bahamas Bowl, and Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in addition to what’s now the GameAbove Sports Bowl. There are also seven bowls listed there as secondary, but we’re going to hone in on the three remaining primary ones first. Checking McMurphy’s projections and the bowls’ own websites, we get confirmation (or at least what passes for that) on all three as MAC bowls. We don’t get confirmation on whom the MAC plays in the Potato Bowl, though. The Potato Bowl website lists MWC vs. MAC, but McMurphy projects a Conference USA team there. Is this a projected shortage of Mountain West teams? We’ll deal with it in a minute, but in the meantime, two more to lock in:
- Arizona Bowl: MAC vs. Mountain West
- Bahamas Bowl: MAC vs. Conference USA
Unfortunately, we can’t find anything from the Mountain West. We can, however, find some Conference USA confirmation which indicates berths this year in the New Orleans Bowl (against the Sun Belt), the Hawaii Bowl, what’s now the 68 Ventures Bowl, and the aforementioned Bahamas Bowl. But…nothing about the Potato Bowl. And further complicating matters, McMurphy doesn’t have a Conference USA team in the Hawaii Bowl or the 68 Ventures Bowl. Is the guy we think is our best source on all of this wrong? Is the Conference USA press release outdated?
We at least have New Orleans Bowl continuity, and indeed, the New Orleans Bowl website confirms that’s Conference USA vs. Sun Belt. Our 19th locked in:
- New Orleans Bowl: Conference USA vs. Sun Belt
The Sun Belt has a nice, clean recent release from June, further confirming participation in the Cure Bowl, Myrtle Beach Bowl, 68 Ventures Bowl, and what’s now the Salute to Veterans Bowl (formerly the Camellia Bowl). McMurphy’s projections again disagree, though, at least on the Camellia Bowl matchup.
The American has a clear release from 2019 which should still apply, but we don’t know what might have changed, and ultimately, at this point, we’re running into a little bit of a wall. Our best move is probably to check every bowl’s website, check more sources than McMurphy, do a little reverse engineering, send a couple emails, and make our best guess. That process is a little too long for today, though, and having already burned a hole in your inbox twice, there won’t be a Part 3 to this series within College Football Morning. If you’re interested, check our eventual bowl projections, which we’re now guessing won’t be published for the first time until a week from Sunday. We’ll have a link there to our eventual best understanding of the process.
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Tuesday Night Football was…something, but tonight’s a little better. We have a developing four-team race in Conference USA, with Movelor rating each of Jacksonville State, Western Kentucky, Liberty, and Sam Houston more than ten points better than the rest of the league. Tonight’s the first time any of them meet, which makes WKU/SHSU a fairly big game.
The story on Sam Houston is that after a brutal first FBS season last year, they’re 5–1 overall in 2024, with a noteworthy win over Texas State a few weeks ago. They’re one win away, then, from their first bowl appearance since 1964, when they tied Concordia College in the NAIA’s Championship Bowl. (Unlike JMU, Sam Houston remained in the FCS in the first season of their two-year transition. Hence, Sam Houston can make a bowl game while JMU couldn’t without extenuating circumstances in its second FBS year. Missouri State and Delaware are, to my knowledge, on the Sam Houston schedule and will join the FBS next year before becoming eligible for bowl eligibility in 2026.)
The story on Western Kentucky is simpler: They’re Western Kentucky, the program which produced Mike White, Bailey Zappe, and Austin Reed. They throw the ball around a lot, and they’re known for that. That, and Big Red. Their first loss this year was a 63–0 defeat at the hands of Alabama, and their second came by a single point against Boston College, and they might have had a third but a play was—unfortunately for Toledo—blown dead before a fumble recovery which would have become a Toledo touchdown. Western Kentucky isn’t great offensively, but they’re often productive, and this year, the defense is solid as well. I believe SP+ has it the best in Conference USA.
Movelor, SP+, and FPI are in disagreement on the top four in this league, but it’s all by only a handful of points, if that. Movelor says WKU’s second-best and SHSU fourth. SP+ says WKU’s second-best and SHSU third. FPI says WKU’s third-best and SHSU second. SP+ has the Hilltoppers narrowly favored tonight, while Movelor and FPI favor Sam Houston. Should be a fun one. We cannot say the same with confidence about FIU/UTEP, but maybe it’ll turn out great.
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Some of our other stuff this week:
- Good Things Shrewing broke down the impact of Benjamin Morrison’s injury on Notre Dame.
- BFN asked whether Texas should try to make the Red River Shootout no longer an annual affair.
- Cyclone State celebrated Iowa State’s 6–0 start and looked through some midseason takeaways, most notably how coaching travels.
- Lastly, we published our football futures for this week earlier today. Among them? A very, very long-odds Bryson Daily Heisman ticket.
Bark.
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