Christmas Bowl in 2014 and Solution to the Bowl Dilemma.

This post is in response to the artcile in the San Jose Mercury News about BYU aligning themselves permanently with the Christmas Bowl beginning in 2014. For those of you unfamiliar with the Christmas Bowl, let me elaborate.

The game will be played on Christmas Day beginning in 2014. The game will be played on the day after Christmas when Christmas day falls on a Sunday. Not just because of BYU but also to avoid a conflict with the NFL. (In 2014, Christmas falls on Thursday. The next time Christmas falls on Sunday is 2011 and then 2016). It will be played initially in the Los Angeles Memorial Colosseum, but will move to a new NFL stadium in LA once one is finished. (Either in downtown LA or in the City of Industry) It is being set up as a non-profit bowl. The profits will instead go to the Children's Miracle Network. It is anticipated that the other opponent will be either from the Big 10 or the PAC 12.

Now there is concern that another bowl or two, without some bowl folding, will put the NCAA in a position where a 5-7 team gets a bowl game. The NCAA can not limit the number of bowl games. There is a simple way to avoid this. My solution is to let the FCS into bowl games provided that conditions are met. The conditions are:

1. There must be no FBS team with a .500 or better record available.
2. The FCS team must have played 13 games or less. This means that they would have been eliminated in the first, second or third round of the FCS playoffs. Once a team makes it to the FCS final four, they would not be able to be invited to a bowl game.
3. The FCS team must have at least 7 wins.
4. The bowl must agree not to force the FCS team to purchase an allotment of tickets.

The NCAA is currently studying the bowl issue in the wake of the Fiesta Bowl scandal. No new bowls will be certified until 2014.

For example. If the New Mexico Bowl in 2010 did not have 6-6 UTEP or any other bowl-eligible team to invite, they could have invited 9-3 Montana State instead of any 5-7 team. Either a 5-7 FBS team or any FCS team in a bowl game would be a loss, but at least the FCS team is a winner and would be happy to be there.