Search the Community

C-USA BOWL 2018 SYNOPSISConference USA secured guaranteed commitments for six bowl spots for the 2018 season, as well as maintaining two secondary agreements. The Bahamas, Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton, Hawai’i, New Mexico, and R+L Carriers New Orleans bowls are joined by a spot in either the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla (Tampa Bay) or Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowls as the primary agreements. The Frisco Bowl and the Walk-On’s Independence Bowl (should the ACC or SEC not be able to provide a bowl-eligible team) serve as secondary bowls. There is no set selection order among C-USA’s bowl partners. C-USA was given the Gasparilla Bowl and not the HOD by ESPN (assumption). With a game in Dallas off the table and with the Independence Bowl selecting and AAC team (Duke) our options became very slim without some trading. The first rule of trading is you have to have something to trade. What could C-USA offer? Boca Raton - UAB chose this bowl per conference rules. Bahamas - FIU already filled C-USA spot Hawaii - LaTech already filled C-USA spot Open Options Gasparilla - 1,162 miles from Denton - Thursday Game New Mexico - 609 miles from Denton - Saturday game to kick off the Bowl Season v. MWC New Orleans - 542 miles from Denton- Same Saturday as NM v. SBC and we were there last year. If I am any other conference commissioner other than the belt I do not think I would trade. So UNT is left with the three options above. Which would you chose? A game we have not been to vs a Coaches Poll top 25 team? A game vs the best team in the belt (who is supposed to be a worse conference than the C-USA) (did not have good results last year in this scenario)? A game vs the 4th place team in the AAC on a Thursday night 1,200 miles away from campus? Given the above options (that only take into account the C-USA tie-in's and the lack of a tradable commodity), I think we did the best out of all of the other C-USA teams. It is a low pressure game as we will be underdogs and few if any will pick us to win but it will be reported as UNT v #23 Utah State. If we win huge upside and we upset a top 25 team (would be the top story of any bowl games played on Saturday) (heck the Dallas Morning news might even give credit to Mac for a great win) if we lose, we were beat by a ranked opponent. When you are dealt a hand you play that hand to win. I feel that the C-USA was dealt a blah hand by ESPN and Wren played that blah hand to be a winner with limited options. Would I have prefered HOD for my convenience? YES, but if it was not offered to C-USA we came out smelling like roses compared to the rest of the C-USA. We have a new to us bowl with a possibility to reach 10 wins against a top 25 team. Let that sink in. I for one would have signed up for that option before the season started. This is a great bowl for the Mean Green!