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SEC needs Sun Belt expansion Wednesday, May 21, 2008 By Harry King LITTLE ROCK - Football at the University of South Alabama can't begin soon enough for the Southeastern Conference. The SEC's new partnership with the Papajohns.com Bowl is the league's ninth tie-in with a bowl game, 10 if it's like the past two years when the league has had two teams in the Bowl Championship Series. In 2007, LSU played for the national championship and Georgia was in the Sugar Bowl. The year before, Florida was in the title game and LSU was in the Sugar Bowl. To supply the needed number of six-victory teams, the SEC needs the Sun Belt Conference to continue to expand and provide play-for-pay participants. Western Kentucky, which begins Sun Belt play in 2009, is already on the 2008 schedule of Alabama and Kentucky. A year ago, Arkansas was 3-0 in the Sun Belt. This year, the Razorbacks' only Sun Belt opponent is Louisiana-Monroe. ULM is also on the 2008 schedule of Auburn and Ole Miss. Middle Tennessee of the Sun Belt plays Kentucky and Mississippi State this year. Troy is on LSU's schedule and Arkansas State University plays at Alabama. For one reason or another, none of the SEC schools sweet-talked Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana-Lafayette, or North Texas into making a trip for cash. South Alabama will field its first team in 2009, play its first full schedule in 2010, and join the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2013. By then, the Jaguars will show up on some SEC schedules. For the Sun Belt, it's a matter of spreading the wealth and the bruises. The SEC's spring football review was compiled before the league agreed to supply an opponent for the Big East in the Papajohns.com Bowl so it was not clear where the game would fall in the pecking order. Considering the identity of the title sponsor, it would be easy to say the Birmingham folks would get the leftovers. Indeed, the Papajohns.com Bowl will pick last, after the Independence Bowl in Shreveport. Despite that, The Press-Register in Mobile says the GMAC Bowl is trying to hook up with the SEC and other conferences. The bowl's contracts with Conference USA and the Mid-America Conference expires after the 2009 game, which is Jan. 6. The GMAC Bowl president pointed out that the SEC's tie-in with the Birmingham game is only a two-year deal. "That would be the ultimate if you could get in the rotation where you're guaranteed a team," Jerry Silverstein told the newspaper. A spot for the SEC in Birmingham opened up when Conference USA and the Big East agreed to send representatives to the new St. Petersburg Bowl. That bowl was authorized by the NCAA at the same time as the Congressional Bowl in Washington, D.C., which will match Navy and an opponent from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Almost as surprising as the yes-yes to St. Pete and D.C. was a no to Salt Lake City, which wanted to match a Mountain West Conference team against a Western Athletic Conference opponent in the Rocky Mountain Bowl. After the decision, chairman Richard Giannini of the NCAA Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee said the subcommittee reviewed the historical data of bowl eligible teams and "feels there is adequate opportunity to fill all bowl positions." For those who are counting, there will be 34 bowl games this year. In 2007, 71 teams had records of 6-6 or better. ---- Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media's Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com. |
