NCAA Releases 35 Game Bowl Schedule

NCAA releases 2011-2012 bowl schedule.

Your favorite college football team may make it to a bowl following its 12-game season this fall. All that most schools have to do to be eligible is finish the season 6-6 with one of those wins over a lower echelon program permitted. Rewarding mediocrity is what the top level of college football is all about. That and raking in some cold, hard cash for host cities, sponsors, colleges and in some cases, conferences.

Summer Daze

Yes, it is unofficially summer and the only college level activity going on at the moment is the College World Series in Omaha. Still, avid football fans are hanging on to every bit of gridiron news in these lean days of summer. Come August 1, when training for the fall season begins, college football news will rise to a new level.

The 2011-2012 bowl season will stretch over 23 days to accompany 35 games, concluding with the national championship game on January 9, 2012, in New Orleans. January 1, which had been the traditional date for bowl games, won?t have a single game in 2012. That?s because New Year?s Day is on a Sunday and the NFL will be closing out its regular season on that day. Instead of going head to head with the pros, the bowls will be played on other days. That is assuming the NFL reaches a labor agreement real soon.

Schedule Highlights

The first bowl games will be played on December 17, with three games scheduled. The classic games including the Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta will be played Jan. 2 through 5.

Some of the bowl sponsors have changed including the Meineke Bowl in Charlotte which is now the Belk Bowl. Meineke takes over the Texas Bowl in Houston, a game that will be played on New Year?s Day. Following the introduction of the New Era Pinstripe Bowl and TicketCity Bowl last season, the NCAA has placed a three-year moratorium on new games.

Almost every bowl game has a conference tie in although a few schools not affiliated with a conference have to make arrangements on their own. Brigham Young University, an independent this year, has committed itself to the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl, that is if the Cougars aren?t invited to one of the BCS games. Under this arrangement the Cougars would take on a team from Conference USA.

Resources

ESPN;?Bowl Landscape: 23 Days, 35 Games; June 17, 2011

Orlando Sentinel; BYU Secures Bowl Tie-in for 2011 Season; Matt Murschel; April 27, 2011

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Source: http://www.saycampuslife.com/2011/06/20/ncaa-releases-35-game-bowl-schedule/

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