CougarCorner

ESPN released the schedule of their controlled bowl games for 2017. http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-relea ... owl-games/
There was only 2 in that mix that was not listed as affiliated with conferences:

Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
The Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl will be played on Saturday, Dec. 23, on ESPN. The 14th edition of the postseason college football bowl game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. from Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of TCU, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl
The eighth annual Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl is set for Tuesday, Dec. 26, at the historic Cotton Bowl Stadium on the grounds of Fair Park. This year’s bowl game will air on ESPN (time TBD).

I suppose there may be conferences unable to provide a bowl-eligible team for an affiliated game as well.

Zaxby's blows goats. My soul dies a little inside any time someone tries to tell me how good they think it is. It's like my kid getting off the clanky roller coaster in the mall parking lot telling me what a rush it is. I can only nod condescendingly having tasted Cedar Point etc.

Utah is the suckiest place ever for chicken joints. You'd think Mormons could get behind the idea of a bucket of mouth-watering chicken to feed their upteen kids once a month, but KFC, Zaxby's, and the salmonella counter at the grocery stores are the only places and they all sling turds. Popeye's is the best option thobeit a bit overpriced for feeding the whole famn damily, but you gotta be close to a military installation to find one of those even.

If only we could get a Raising Cane's, Bush's, or Church's to open a joint, the scales would fall from Utahns' eyes.

That's all I have to say about that. [/rantover]

I've been to Raising Cane's and Church's in MO and wasn't overly impressed with them. Laugh if you want but I have found that DQ has the juiciest chicken tenders ever. Their chicken basket with gravy to dip them in is heaven! And I've seen very few DQs here in Utah. None in Toole Co. None near my work in SLC. In MO we had them all over the place.

Chick Fila is GOSPEL bras!!

I don't know why the ESPN page doesn't list the Armed Forces and Heart of Dallas affiliations.

Here's a more complete announcement

The B1G has a rotating spot with the Armed Forces and Heart of Dallas. Each bowl gets a Tier 3 (#9-10 team) B1G school 3 times in 6 years. (Although there have been insufficient B1G schools available the last 2 years). This year, B1G plays in the Armed Forces Bowl and the Big 12 has the 2017 affiliation with the Heart of Dallas Bowl.

Big 12 Bowl Schedule

On the other side, Heart of Dallas is a CUSA bowl game. Armed Forces has a 2017 relationship with Army.

So,

- Armed Forces = Army v. B1G
- Heart of Dallas = B12 v. CUSA

BYU has a decent shot at both of these games - the contracted conferences have not fulfilled their contracts the last 2 years. There were insufficient B1G or B12 teams last year, so it was CUSA(LA Tech) v. Navy and CUSA(N. Texas) v. Army.

In 2015, again insufficient B1G and B12 schools so, Heart of Dallas was CUSA (S. Miss) v. Washington and Armed Forces was California v. Air Force.

There is a fairly decent chance that either Army isn't bowl eligible or B1G or B12 cannot fulfill all of their bowl contracts (as these bowls are at the tail end of either conference's lineup).

Depending on how BYU does in 2017, there definitely could be other options to upgrade the bowl situation, especially if BYU is ranked at bowl selection time.

I think ESPN should add a clause in some of the P5 bowl contracts that says if a ranked team is available it could bump the P5 team.

Mars wrote:Chick Fila is GOSPEL bras!!

Gospel bras? Those are honor code compliant, right?

SpiffCoug wrote:

Mars wrote:Chick Fila is GOSPEL bras!!

Gospel bras? Those are honor code compliant, right?

Best case scenario other than a NY6 bowl is to take Army's spot and hope the B1G has enough eligible teams. If there were a P5-P5 matchup that didn't fill on one side that would be great but it's pretty rare and most of the games with that potential have a backup G5 tie in.

Odds are pretty good even at 11-2 we end up with a pretty poor match up.

http://www.sportingnews.com/amp/ncaa-fo ... o567r1z0u4

Predicts Dec. 27 Independence Bowl Pittsburgh vs. BYU