NCAA football bowl games, 2006-07
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The 2006-07 NCAA College Football Bowl Games schedule caps the 2006 NCAA Division I-A football season in college football. The NCAA Division I-A does not include a play-off system. Instead, the season concludes with a series of bowl games that have developed as a reward for teams that do well in the regular season.
The 2006-07 schedule is the largest post-season lineup ever, with the addition of the new stand-alone Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game as well as the International Bowl in Toronto, Ontario which is the first game to be played outside the USA since the last Bacardi Bowl was played in Havana, Cuba in 1937. The season also adds two additional games---the PapaJohns.com Bowl and the New Mexico Bowl---as part of a record 38 post-season games (32, not including the post-BCS all-star games) scheduled between the Poinsettia Bowl on December 19, 2006, and the post-season-ending Texas vs. The Nation Game on February 2, 2007. Thus, 64 teams out of the 119 in Division I-A will be playing in the post-season, thanks in part to the NCAA's decision to expand D-I schedules to 12 games and allow teams with a 6-6 record to be bowl-eligible if the team or their conference has negotiated a bowl contract.
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[edit] Selection of the teams
The selection of the team can be, but is not always based on the regular-season final standings. For example, bowls affiliated with the ACC and Big East conferences are held to a "one-win" rule <ref>http://www.hokiesports.com/rothreport/recaps/20061113aaa.html</ref>. When the Chick-fil-A Bowl, which receives the first pick after the BCS bowls, selects an ACC team, it must select a team that is within one win of the team with the best conference record available. Thus, if there is a 6-2 ACC team available, the Chick-fil-A Bowl could select a 5-3 team, but not a 4-4 team.
The team with the best conference record will not automatically play in the Bowl game with the biggest payout and thus teams will often lobby bowl administrators to select their team. This scheme is in place to avoid teams returning to the same bowls year after year, if possible. The selection of which team will fill which of the team's conference bowl spots is largely arbitrary. The designation "#1 team" may imply the best conference record or the highest ranking on any of the national polls at the end of the season of the remaining conference teams that are not in BCS bowl games. In some conferences the rules state which is the case, and in others the decision is made by the universities, the conferences, and the bowl administrators, and may be based on geography. The Independence Bowl, for instance, only has loose ties with the Big 12 and SEC, although any Division I-A team may be chosen to play in the bowl.
In certain cases, a conference may not have enough "bowl-eligible" teams to fulfill its obligations to provide teams to certain bowls. In this case, an "at-large" team may be chosen. This happened in 2006 as the Big Ten did not have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill its slot in the Motor City Bowl.
NCAA bylaws stipulate any team finishing 6-6 can only be selected to fill a conference tie-in bowl slot once all other available conference teams are chosen. For example, since the Big East had 6 bowl-eligible teams, but only 5 bowl tie-ins, 6-6 Pittsburgh was automatically the odd team out. The same rule also applies to at-large bowl selections. With only 2 at-large bowl positions available and two remaining 7-5 teams, Northern Illinois' selection to the Poinsettia Bowl and Middle Tennessee's selection to the Motor City Bowl meant any remaining 6-6 teams had no chance of playing in a bowl game.
Conference commissioners took control of the Bowl games in the early 1990s. Now, revenue from the bowl games goes directly to the respective conferences to split among its members. Conferences compete aggressively for the automatic tie-ins to bowl games.
[edit] Bowl-Eligible Teams Who Stayed Home
With a total of 73 bowl-eligible teams, and 64 bowl slots, 9 schools were shut out of the post-season. Since teams with winning records are given priority for at-large bowl positions, 7-5 Middle Tennessee and 7-5 Northern Illinois were able to snag the two at-large berths. This meant any 6-6 team that was not selected to one of its conference's tie-in bowls was left out. Among the 6-6 teams that were shut out were Pitt from the Big East Conference, Kansas from the Big 12, Arizona and Washington State from the Pac-10, SMU from Conference USA, Kent State from the MAC, Arkansas State and Louisiana Lafayette from the Sun Belt, and the Wyoming Cowboys from the Mountain West, who were passed over by the New Mexico Bowl in favor of hometown New Mexico despite the Cowboys having a better conference record (5-3) than the Lobos (4-4).
[edit] 2006-07 Changes
- The new stand-alone BCS National Championship debuts with the double-hosting plan. The BCS Championship and the Fiesta Bowl will now be played at the brand-new University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. As a result of this, the Insight Bowl moves from Downtown Phoenix's Chase Field, home of baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks to the Fiesta Bowl's old home, Sun Devil Stadium on the campus of Arizona State University in nearby Tempe.
- Several games have changed television rights holders. For example, FOX takes over the BCS games except the Rose Bowl, which will remain on ABC under a separate contract. The NFL Network will televise their first college post-season game, the Texas Bowl on December 28 at Reliant Stadium. The NFL Network will also televise the Insight Bowl on December 29, the All-American Classic on January 15, and the Senior Bowl on January 27. CBS returns to the New Year's Day bowl picture after a prolonged absence as they have acquired the telecast rights to the Toyota Gator Bowl, replacing NBC, leaving the Peacock network without a bowl game for the first time in NBC's history.
- Three bowl games which had been without a sponsor have found new corporate partners. After three years without a sponsor, the Independence Bowl has signed Phoenix-based energy company PetroSun as their new sponsor starting with the 2006 game. In addition, as part of their return to their titular home city after a year in Lafayette, Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Bowl has found a new sponsor in freight carrier R+L Carriers. Bell Helicopter takes over the sponsorship of the former Fort Worth Bowl, renaming it the Armed Forces Bowl. For a short period of time, Alltel held sponsorship rights until the proposed sponsorship deal fell through. However, the location (Fort Worth, Texas) and the conference tie-ins remain the same.
- The Houston Bowl has been renamed the Texas Bowl and will be played despite the sponsors suffering a major collapse of finances; the NCAA approved a new operator of the game to be played on December 28 at Reliant Stadium. The game will be promoted by Lone Star Sports and Entertainment, the marketing arm of the Houston Texans and will also feature the largest holiday fireworks show in the Lone Star State after the game is completed.
- Two new post-season all-star games have been added. The North-South All-Star Classic is scheduled to be played on January 13, 2007 in Houston, Texas at the Galena Park Independent School District Stadium; TV rights are unknown (as of November 2006). The other new post-season all-star game is the Texas vs. The Nation Game, which will be played on February 2, 2007 in El Paso, Texas at Sun Bowl Stadium, and will be televised by CSTV. In this game, a team of top-rated college seniors who have played either college or high school football in Texas will face a team comprised of other top-rated seniors from around the nation.
[edit] Non-BCS Bowls
Note: All times are US EST/UTC -5 and dates are as accurate as of December 3, 2006.
[edit] Bowl Championship Series
| Bowl Championship Series Game | Date and Time | Location | Television | 2006 Opponents |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rose Bowl | January 1, 2007, 5 PM | Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, California | ABC | Southern California vs. Michigan |
| Fiesta Bowl | January 1, 2007, 8:30 PM | University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona | FOX | Oklahoma vs. Boise State |
| Orange Bowl | January 2, 2007, 8 PM | Dolphin Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida | FOX | Wake Forest vs. Louisville |
| Sugar Bowl | January 3, 2007, 8 PM | Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans | FOX | Notre Dame vs. LSU |
| BCS National Championship Game | January 8, 2007, 8 PM | University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona | FOX | Ohio State vs. Florida |
[edit] Post-BCS All-Star Games
| All-Star Game | Date and Time | Location | Television |
|---|---|---|---|
| North-South All-Star Classic | January 13, 2007, 11 AM | Galena Park ISD Stadium, Houston, Texas | TBD |
| Hula Bowl | January 14, 2007, 8:30 PM | Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi | ESPN |
| All-American Classic | January 15, 2007, 4 PM | Sam Boyd Stadium, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas | NFL Network |
| East-West Shrine Game | January 20, 2007, 2 PM | Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas | ESPN |
| Senior Bowl | January 27, 2007, 4 PM | Ladd Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Alabama | NFL Network |
| Texas vs. The Nation Game | February 2, 2007, 9 PM | Sun Bowl Stadium, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso | CSTV |
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
<references />
| Preceded by: NCAA football bowl games, 2005-06 | NCAA Bowl Games, by year 2006-2007 | Succeeded by: NCAA football bowl games, 2007-08 |
| 2006-07 Division I-A College football Bowl Game season | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poinsettia (Dec. 19) • Las Vegas (Dec. 21) • New Orleans (Dec. 22) • PapaJohns.com (Dec. 23) • New Mexico (Dec. 23) • Armed Forces (Dec. 23) • Hawai'i (Dec. 24) • Motor City (Dec. 26) • Independence (Dec. 27) • Emerald (Dec. 27) • Holiday (Dec. 28) • Texas (Dec. 28) • Music City (Dec. 29) • Sun (Dec. 29) • Liberty (Dec. 29) • Insight (Dec. 29) • Champs Sports (Dec. 29) • Meineke Car Care (Dec. 30) • Alamo (Dec. 30) • Chick-fil-A (Dec. 30) • MPC Computers (Dec. 31) • Outback (Jan. 1) • Cotton (Jan. 1) • Gator (Jan. 1) • Capital One (Jan. 1) • International (Jan. 6) • GMAC (Jan. 7)
<tr>
<td colspan=3 align="center" bgcolor="#DAF0FD"> Bowl Championship Series games:
</td></tr> <tr> <td colspan=3 bgcolor="#DAF0FD" style="font-size: 90%;" align="center"> All-Star Games: North-South All-Star Classic (Jan. 13) • Hula Bowl (Jan. 14) • Las Vegas All-American Classic (Jan. 15) • East-West Shrine Game (Jan. 20) • Senior Bowl (Jan. 27) • Texas vs. The Nation Game (Feb. 2)</td></tr> |
