(07-24-2013 03:47 PM)3601 Wrote: (07-24-2013 03:46 PM)3601 Wrote: (07-24-2013 02:30 PM)quo vadis Wrote: (07-24-2013 01:07 PM)3601 Wrote: (07-24-2013 09:44 AM)quo vadis Wrote: I was going by information such as this:
"Two years ago, the Liberty Bowl signed a pretty complex agreement with Southeastern Conference that gave it considerable power over the selection of teams for the bowl game. About five minutes after UCF defeated Georgia in the 2010 Liberty Bowl, it was apparent the SEC would try to use that veto power to avoid facing a Conference USA team this year."
"The negotiations seemed to finally reach a breaking point two years ago, with the Liberty Bowl forced to agree to a complex contract that effectively gave the SEC veto power every two years."
So OK, the writer refers to "effective veto power" rather than than referring to a formal contract mechanism, but the result seems to have been the same:
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_...e-usa.html
More info...
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010...stinations
Seems consistent with the info i posted from a year later: Assuming it will be placing a team in the LB, the SEC could veto C-USA once every two years. The SEC chose not to do so in 2010 but did so in 2011, at least according to the article i posted.
That's now what I read. Accoridng to what I read, the SEC had the option to bump the C-USA team only if the SEC team were taking its place against a Big East team. The SEC did not bump a C-USA team to avoid playing a C-USA team. More info...
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/i...g-east-mix
More info...
http://www.downthedrive.com/2011/12/3/26...bowl-bound
I think this article actually explains it the best. It has nothing to do with the SEC having veto power. It was merely a contractual provision that was based on how many bowl eligible teams the SEC had...
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/201...r-liberty/
Big East school likely for Liberty Bowl
Mississippi State or Vandy expected to represent Southeastern Conference
By Ron Higgins
Memphis Commercial Appeal
Posted November 30, 2011 at midnight
.DiscussPrintAAA.A Big East Conference team -- Louisville, Cincinnati or West Virginia -- will likely play Mississippi State or Vanderbilt in the Dec. 31 AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
A couple of circumstances -- the Southeastern Conference having just nine bowl-eligible teams with two currently ticketed for the BCS national championship game and Conference USA likely getting Houston in a BCS bowl -- have triggered clauses in the agreement between the SEC, C-USA, the Liberty Bowl and the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham, which is a primary SEC bowl partner and secondary C-USA one.
The Liberty Bowl and the Compass Bowl share the last selections among all the SEC bowl agreements, but the Liberty Bowl picks ahead of the Compass Bowl this season.
Because the SEC is one bowl shy of filling all its bowl slots this year, the Liberty contractually gets the Compass' Big East fourth-place pick that usually goes to Birmingham because part of the agreement states that the Big East always wants one of its teams to play the SEC, whether in the Compass Bowl or the Liberty Bowl.
According to C-USA associate commissioner Alfred White, the Liberty Bowl has three possible matchups every year, depending on the amount of bowl-eligible SEC teams and whether two SEC teams play in BCS bowls.
"If there are eight SEC bowl-eligible teams, the Liberty Bowl matches Conference USA versus the Big East," White said. "If there are nine SEC bowl-eligible teams, it's SEC versus Big East. And if there are 10 bowl-eligible SEC teams, it's the SEC versus Conference USA."
Southern Miss (9-2) plays at Houston (12-0) on Saturday in the C-USA championship game. If Houston wins, it will likely end up in a BCS bowl, probably the Sugar, and Southern Miss would be placed in one of the C-USA's six bowl partners besides the Liberty. If Southern Miss wins, it and Houston would end up in C-USA bowls.
The only way that a C-USA team could end up in Memphis this year is if the SEC has three teams in BCS games. That can happen if Georgia beats No. 1 LSU in the SEC championship game on Saturday to get the league's automatic bowl berth, and Sunday's BCS rankings still have current No. 2 Alabama and LSU as its top two teams, matching the Crimson Tide and the Tigers in the national championship game.
That would leave the Liberty Bowl without an SEC team, meaning that Southern Miss, win or lose over Houston, would come to Memphis to play a Big East team.
Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart plans to be in Tampa on Friday night for the Big East game between West Virginia and South Florida, then fly to Atlanta for Saturday's SEC championship game.
The Big East is extremely muddled. Louisville, with its regular season concluded, is 7-5 and has won a share of the conference title with a 5-2 record. Cincinnati and West Virginia, both 8-3 overall and 4-2 in league play, play their final games this weekend.
The crazy thing is that the Big East's current bottom four teams -- Pittsburgh, Connecticut, Syracuse and South Florida -- are all 5-6 and have one last shot Saturday to become bowl eligible.
Though Ehrhart hasn't ruled out 6-6 Florida as a Liberty Bowl candidate, depending which team the Gator Bowl chooses ahead of the Music City and Liberty bowls, he said he would enjoy a first-time Liberty Bowl participant such as Vanderbilt.
-- Ron Higgins: (901) 529-2525