The 2011-12 bowl season starts this Saturday with a triple-header of games that will end with another Sun Belt Conference team playing in the New Orleans Bowl.
Louisiana-Lafayette will try to use the home state advantage when it faces Mountain West member San Diego State in the nightcap.
This is the second consecutive season that three SBC squads will play in a bowl game, the most ever in the
conference’s short history.
Since becoming a football conference in 2001, the SBC has had its ups and downs in terms of the quality of the product on the field.
Across the nation, the conference has been used as a punching line for BCS schools wanting to schedule an easy victory.
Also, most of those same experts believe out of the 11 conferences in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the SBC is the worse.
For a time that was true, and that attitude still prevails in some part of the country.
However, the SBC is beginning to make strides in all areas of the sport and has caught and passed some of those other conferences that have been around longer.
Right now, times are changing in terms of conference realignment.
Schools are joining conferences that seem on the surface a bad fit because of geography, but those same
programs believe it makes sense financially.
Of course, it’s all about money today.
For example, look at the Ragin’ Cajuns opponent on Saturday, San Diego State.
The New Orleans Bowl will mark the final appearance for the Aztecs as a member of the Mountain West.
Next season, believe it or not, San Diego State will play in the Big East. That’s right the Big East. I just hope gas prices will remain near $3 for the time being.
With all of this change across the nation’s landscape, what will happen, if anything, to the SBC?
Honestly, I hope nothing.
With all of its lack of respect with everyone else in college football, it is still a fun league to watch. It is getting better every season.
However, to continue this positive trend, the SBC has to have a good showing during this bowl season, even with a record number of teams qualifying for a bowl game out of the conference.
The three teams from the SBC are still some of the
lowest ranked out of all of the conferences.
In the meantime, the stats show that the SBC is starting to make noise during the bowl season.
Since major conference realignment took place during the 2005 season, the SBC is ranked fifth out of the 11 FBS conferences in bowl winning percentage.
The league has not had as many teams playing in the postseason like its competitors. But, that doesn’t mean the teams aren’t winning when they do participate.
Since 2005 (Bowl Winning Percentage)
1. Mountain West (20-8) .714
2. Big East (21-11) .656
3. SEC (33-19) .635
4. Pac -10 (19-14) .576
5. Sun Belt (6-5) .545
6. Big 12 (24-23) .511
7. ACC (22-28) .440
8. WAC (10-14) .417
9. CUSA (14-21) .400
10. Big Ten (16-28) .364
11. MAC (5-18) .217
Besides the upcoming bowl game against San Diego State, two other SBC teams will try to improve that stat.
On Dec. 20, Florida International stays in-state and faces C-USA member Marshall in the Beef O’Brady’s Bowl in St. Petersburg. Arkansas State rounds out the SBC threesome Jan. 7 when the Red Wolves face MAC champion Northern Illinois in the Godaddy.com Bowl in Mobile.
All three games will be on ESPN.
The conference has a great shot to go 3-0 this bowl season.
Lousiana-Lafayette (8-4) had eight players on the All-Sun Belt Conference teams, including Freshman of the Year, running back Alonzo Harris. Harris had 189 yards on the ground Oct. 29 against the MTSU Blue Raiders.
Three days later, Florida International (8-4) broke several records, including best record ever, most home attendance, and defeated two Big East teams.
The wins over Central Florida and Louisville were the first ever against schools that play in a BCS conference.
It will also be the final college game for one of the most dynamic players in the country.
Senior T.Y. Hilton was named All-SBC First Team as a receiver and as a return specialist. He even missed some time during the season because of an injury.
The Arkansas State (10-2) game should be fun to watch.
The Red Wolves will have a new head coach because during the regular season, former head coach Hugh Freeze decided to take the head coaching job at Ole Miss in Mississippi. But, Arkansas State still has junior quarterback Ryan Aplin, who won the SBC Player of Year and led the SBC in total offense, averaging 320 yards per game.
In order for the SBC to keep growing as a conference, those three teams have to continue performing like they did during the regular season. They must represent the SBC well in the bowl season. |
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