There’s a longstanding debate in the NIT community over whether the Gator Bowl the Sun Bowl is college football’s equivalent to the NIT. Each is historic. Each features teams outside the top ten percent of regular season performers. Each features teams inside the top twenty percent of regular season performers.
This year, though, those bowls are being set aside. Because we don’t have 130 FBS teams this year. We have 77. Or something like that. We’ll see if I counted right, and what happens with the Big Ten. Anyway, because of this, a new debate has arisen.
You see, to fit in that 10%-20% range, the Gator Bowl and Sun Bowl are no longer options. It’s gotta be New Year’s Six bowls. Not the Playoff bowls, of course. But New Year’s Six bowls nonetheless. Here’s each contender’s case:
The Fiesta Bowl
Strengths:
In each of the two seasons in which the Rose and Sugar Bowls were the semifinals, the Fiesta Bowl has grabbed at least one team ranked outside the top ten. It’s a blast. It was sponsored by Tostitos for a while, and that was the most apt sponsorship in bowl history.
Weaknesses:
It isn’t that old (started in 1971). It’s no longer sponsored by Tostitos.
The Peach Bowl
Strengths:
The Peach Bowl was the venue in which UCF won the 2017 alternate national championship. It was the scene of a snubbed College Football Playoff contender absolutely dominating in 2014. It suffered the indignity of having its own name stripped from its own name from 2006 to 2013. Those are the kind of happenings that get you noticed by the NIT movement.
Weaknesses:
It also isn’t that old (started in 1968).
The Cotton Bowl
Strengths:
People love the Cotton Bowl from a time where it still wasn’t that good but people thought it was better. See: Joe Montana comeback in 1979, in which Notre Dame was…8-3. It’s very old. Birthed in 1937.
Weaknesses:
It’s had a high draw in the years the Rose and Sugar Bowls have been the semifinals, getting a 5/8 matchup in both 2014 (Baylor/Michigan State) and 2017 (Ohio State/USC).
The Orange Bowl
Strengths:
It’s in a glamorous locale, and the stadium’s the oldest of these options (not to mention the Marlins used to win World Series there). It’s also old. Started in 1935. It’s hosted a number of mediocre ACC teams over its years as a non-semifinal.
Weaknesses:
While the stadium’s relatively old, it’s not that old, and it’s not the mecca of college football like Madison Square Garden is for college basketball. Also, the ACC tie-in could backfire this year and give us the number five team if this plays out as expected (two SEC teams in the playoff plus Clemson and Oklahoma).
***
Overall, everyone’s got a case. Except the Fiesta Bowl, really. Sorry, Fiesta Bowl, you’re not getting it done. Unless you do the Group-of-Five-team-claiming-a-championship thing like the Peach Bowl did. Personally, ranking it 1) Cotton Bowl, 2) Orange Bowl, 3) Peach Bowl, with the Fiesta Bowl not receiving votes. But clearly, this debate is far from settled.
