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Big 12 Football Ratings: Bowl pull? Irish have it over NU
BY LEE BARFKNECHT
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
The first rule when checking into football bowl possibilities is to rarely believe any on-the-record statement from someone wearing a bright-colored blazer.
These bowl representatives are super people, but they major in smokescreens and minor in obfuscation. In public, they play poker to try to keep other bowls in the dark about their real targets.
Which leads us to the chatter about the Gator Bowl courting Nebraska.
While bowl folks don't show their cards face to face, off to the side there is plenty of educated speculation. In the past two weeks, I've had the chance to sit down with the two men in the business I respect the most after covering 34 bowl games at 12 sites.
Here's what they say:
Hardly anyone in the bowl community believes that the Gator Bowl will turn down a 7-5 Notre Dame in favor of an 8-4 Nebraska on the theory that "Notre Dame will probably be available next year, too."
Bowl people who base decisions on something happening next year often find themselves in this year's unemployment lines.
Does that mean Nebraska won't end up in Jacksonville, Fla.? You never say never.
But the Gator Bowl — without the TV draw of Notre Dame — would need butts in the seats, especially after last year's Texas Tech-Virginia game.
That contest had the No. 39 attendance in the bowl's 63-year history. The announced crowd of 60,243 was 17,000 short of capacity.
How many Nebraskans, excited about a bowl but facing tough economic times, will pay the always-high airfares to Florida?
That makes the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, a more likely Husker destination. One of my bowl buddies, speaking on background, said: "Enjoy the trip to El Paso. Those people down there do a great, great job, and I mean that sincerely."
Again, this is all speculation. But the early lineup for Big 12 bowls, barring Missouri upsetting the South Division champion in the league title game and Oklahoma losing its final two games, looks something like this:
• Two BCS spots and the Cotton Bowl: Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma.
• Holiday and Alamo: Oklahoma State and Missouri.
• Sun: Nebraska.
• Insight and Independence: Kansas and, if eligible, Colorado. KU looked like an Insight lock, but the hang-up here is that Colorado went to the Independence Bowl last year. To avoid a repeat trip, CU might be the Insight pick if it beats Nebraska.
• Texas: Not filled by Big 12.
One note: Big 12 spokesman Bob Burda said Monday that the only protection offered to the loser of the Big 12 championship game is for that school to fall no lower than the Insight Bowl.
BY LEE BARFKNECHT
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
The first rule when checking into football bowl possibilities is to rarely believe any on-the-record statement from someone wearing a bright-colored blazer.
These bowl representatives are super people, but they major in smokescreens and minor in obfuscation. In public, they play poker to try to keep other bowls in the dark about their real targets.
Which leads us to the chatter about the Gator Bowl courting Nebraska.
While bowl folks don't show their cards face to face, off to the side there is plenty of educated speculation. In the past two weeks, I've had the chance to sit down with the two men in the business I respect the most after covering 34 bowl games at 12 sites.
Here's what they say:
Hardly anyone in the bowl community believes that the Gator Bowl will turn down a 7-5 Notre Dame in favor of an 8-4 Nebraska on the theory that "Notre Dame will probably be available next year, too."
Bowl people who base decisions on something happening next year often find themselves in this year's unemployment lines.
Does that mean Nebraska won't end up in Jacksonville, Fla.? You never say never.
But the Gator Bowl — without the TV draw of Notre Dame — would need butts in the seats, especially after last year's Texas Tech-Virginia game.
That contest had the No. 39 attendance in the bowl's 63-year history. The announced crowd of 60,243 was 17,000 short of capacity.
How many Nebraskans, excited about a bowl but facing tough economic times, will pay the always-high airfares to Florida?
That makes the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, a more likely Husker destination. One of my bowl buddies, speaking on background, said: "Enjoy the trip to El Paso. Those people down there do a great, great job, and I mean that sincerely."
Again, this is all speculation. But the early lineup for Big 12 bowls, barring Missouri upsetting the South Division champion in the league title game and Oklahoma losing its final two games, looks something like this:
• Two BCS spots and the Cotton Bowl: Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma.
• Holiday and Alamo: Oklahoma State and Missouri.
• Sun: Nebraska.
• Insight and Independence: Kansas and, if eligible, Colorado. KU looked like an Insight lock, but the hang-up here is that Colorado went to the Independence Bowl last year. To avoid a repeat trip, CU might be the Insight pick if it beats Nebraska.
• Texas: Not filled by Big 12.
One note: Big 12 spokesman Bob Burda said Monday that the only protection offered to the loser of the Big 12 championship game is for that school to fall no lower than the Insight Bowl.
