Less than two weeks before bowl bids become official, Will Webb, executive director of Charlotte's Meineke Car Care Bowl still wonders which two teams will be playing at Bank of America Stadium on Dec. 27.
"It's a little like predicting hurricanes in March," Webb said. "Last year was a perfect example. We never thought we'd have North Carolina here until the day it came for us to pick a team. We weren't sure about West Virginia, either. You just never know."
It's fair to assume, Webb said, that Clemson, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and probably North Carolina are out of the picture for the Meineke Bowl this year. However, Florida State, Miami and Boston College are possibilities.
Depending on what happens with Bobby Bowden's future at Florida State, he could be coaching his final game in whatever bowl the Seminoles play this year.
On the Big East side, unbeaten Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are likely to be gone before Webb gets the third pick among Big East teams.
However, the Gator Bowl has the option of choosing Notre Dame this year -- the last year the Jacksonville, Fla., bowl has that option -- and it's possible the Fighting Irish could end up there. That would potentially open the door for Pittsburgh or Cincinnati in Charlotte, depending on how the championship race and BCS bids play out.
Otherwise, Rutgers could make its first trip to Charlotte and West Virginia remains a possibility for a return visit, with its large fan base.
"There are still so many variables out there," Webb said.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Meineke Car Care Bowl still wide open
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7 comments:
The bowl will be a diaster without at least one team with local ties. How about NC State...ooops, they are not bowl eligible.
Not true. The bowl will only be a disaster ticket-wise if they get stuck with BC, Miami or FSU. Georgia Tech would be as bad but they won't end up here.
I can't imagine the Gator taking a 6-6 Notre Dame team.
The Meineke Bowl is going to be a disaster because there are only 2 legitimate football teams in the ACC (Ga Tech, Clemson) and they're going to the Orange and Chick-Fil-A bowls.
I agree that NC State would be a great fit. They would just need to change the name to the "Toilet Bowl" for one year.
J, you are an ignorant idiot. First of all, chances are that the Gator Bowl WILL take Notre Dame. They're in a contract that allows them to take the Irish once every 4years and with the bowl in its last year of their contract, they may not be able to get Notre Dame again for a while. Despite being a probable 6-6, Notre Dame will attract a larger fan base and get higher TV ratings which is what the bowls are really all about. And about the ACC having only 2 legitimate football teams. The ACC has the most Top 25 teams of any conference in the country with 5 so I don't know where you're getting this "only 2 legitimate football teams in the ACC" thing.
I agree that the Gator would love ND because they have a huge fan following. However, I see J's point of view that besides GT and Clemson, the ACC is weak. Virginia Tech's not as strong as usual, Miami isn't as good as everyone thought (the Oklahoma win wasn't that good), UNC got smacked by a team that got dominated by William and Mary, barely beat the worst team in the Big East, feasted on two bad FCS teams, so their only real non-conference win is ECU (which isn't all that great). The only good win by the ACC is NC State's win over Pitt (God knows how that happened). Everyone else in the ACC is just bad. If these teams end up playing good teams in bowls, they will get killed just like they did last year. Do you think that UNC or Miami would be ranked if they were in the SEC, Pac 10 or Big 12? I don't.
Well, actually I'd say that Va. Tech's win over Nebraska was pretty good as well as Wake's win over Stanford, and Florida State's drumming of BYU. And UNC's early struggles can be attributed to the fact that they were absolutely decimated by injuries to the offensive line and they just now are starting to get healthy. I think the Tar Heels would be ranked in any of the 3 conferences that you mentioned with that incredible defense while I think the U would be ranked in all of them as well. The SEC is undeniably overrated this year. They really only have 3 teams that aren't just slightly better than mediocre in Florida, Alabama, and Ole Miss. LSU is extremely overrated. They haven't beaten a single Top 25 team and really they don't have wins that are that good. Winning in Athens against a mediocre at best UGA team with help from the refs? Nope. Maybe the 31-10 win at home over Auburn would qualify but still. The Big 12 is just flat out not that good this year. They have only 2 ranked teams and the conference has exactly ONE win over a top 25 team collectively and that was in conference(Texas flattening OK State). The only conference in the country that can compete with the ACC in terms of depth of good teams is the Pac-10 but I still think that UNC and Miami would each manage to do enough to be ranked in the Pac-10 as well.
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