The most significant change this year is that the league has now mandated that each bowl must select a team within one game in the conference standings, an adjustment made after two 6-5 teams, NC State and Virginia, were selected ahead of teams that had better records in conference play, Boston College and Georgia Tech.That rule had previously been in effect only for the Toyota Gator Bowl and the Chick-Fil-A Bowl, but is now instituted for all seven non-BCS bowls.
Another change is that the loser of the ACC Championship game can fall no lower than the Music City Bowl in Nashville, which currently has the fourth pick outside the BCS.
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With a fire sale on scalped tickets and projected tens of thousands of no shows in Jacksonville on Saturday, the ACC and Gator Bowl have to be pulling for a Tech win over Wake. That would free the Gator up to take Maryland or Clemson. Otherwise, the Gator could be a disaster attendance wise with a GT repeat appearance.
PWD
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ESPN is reporting that Willie Martinez removed his name from the FIU coaching vacancy. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing, and though his defenses haven't played as well as BGV's did, we could always do much, much worse.
Schlabach is reporting on ESPN.com that the Gator has agreed to take Tech if they lose in the ACC championship game.
His source is Mike Hartley, a member of the Gator's executive committee.
I really don't understand why they play the ACC Title game in Jacksonville if the Gator Bowel (originally a mispelling but I've decided to leave it) gets the second shot at an ACC team. In theory, that's going to lead to the Gator bowl taking the ACC title game loser more often than not. GT is only a few hours away but what happens when BC is in that situation? I seriously doubt they'll sell many tickets for a locale fans were just at a month ago. Then again, they don't have many better options. They can't do an ACC title game in Atlanta and Miami lands them in the same situation.
They should play the ACC Title Game in Charlotte. It's central to the entire league, a large stadium, and there's no bowl conflict (the loser won't drop to the Tire Bowl).
Were I Maryland, Virginia, VPI, or maybe even BC, I might pull for a game at FedEX Field in Washington DC too.
As for the argument that it'd be too cold... Well, these teams are all playing outside the week before. It's not like when the calendar turns to December things automatically freeze. The Big XII has played title games in Arrowhead Stadium, which is colder than Charlotte or DC.
Dante / LD,
The reason it's played in Jax is pretty transparent. They expected FSU and/or Miami to be in the game every year. They wanted the game close to the most likely ticket buyers for the game.
PWD
And allow me to declare how incredibly retarded that was on their part. It's looking more and more like Swofford rolled the dice and bet the house on FSU and Miami being powerhouses for the foreseeable future, and to hell with the other 10 teams in the conference . . . well, he's pretty much getting what he deserves at the moment.
I mean, when the SEC went to 12 teams back in the early '90s, you didn't see Roy Kramer banking the whole plan on the hopes that the title game'd be Florida-Alabama every year; he just sat back and had enough confidence in his teams to believe the title game would be a thriller almost every year, which it pretty much has been. For Swofford to build so much of the ACC's expansion around FSU-Miami is basically to make the tacit admission that nobody gives a rat's behind about the other 10 teams. Now he's getting the worst of both worlds: FSU and Miami suck, and it turns out nobody really does give a rat's behind about the other 10 teams, if ticket sales/national buzz are any indication.
I think it would be funny as hell if Tech had to repeat in Jax and finishes 9-5 and the Dawgs finish 9-4. I know it's cruel but I can't help myself...
Well GT is repeating in Jax and ticket sales are strong. As to the aforementioned question as to why Jax over Charlotte, it comes down to the stadium and working with the NFL/Panthers. The Gator Bowl Association has protections that prevent the Jags from scheduling events on coinciding days except on Sundays as it happened last year when the Gator Bowl slid one day to the right because the Jags had a home game.
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