Independence day may come in December
Apparently, when the smoke around the bowl invitations is gone Sunday, the Arkansas Razorbacks will not be flying over Memphis to get to Nashville, Tenn.
It appears the Razorbacks are the dream team for the Independence Bowl in Shreveport and, as mentioned Tuesday, any city with a Superior Grill (spectacular Mexican food) is more than acceptable.
In fact, the hometown of Tim Brando would be welcomed even if the game is one of five played on Dec. 27 and televised by ESPN2.
It does have the lowest payout ($1.2 million per team) of all the bowls with SEC tieins.
Still, it is an easy trip for fans and Shreveport is a nice city with casinos and other things to do.
Of course, this isn’t definite, but if LSU would rather play in the TaxSlayer Bowl (the old Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.), more power to them. A little exposure in northern Louisiana could pay off with some recruiting dividends for Arkansas.
It looks as if the Razorbacks are the last team in behind Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee, which should go to bowls that pay slightly more.
Which means if Alabama loses to Missouri on Saturday in the SEC Championship Game, the bowl picture could change.
At this time, most prognosticators have Alabama in the College Football Playoffs and Mississippi State going to the Orange Bowl, one of the big four bowls controlled by the playoff committee.
If the Tide lose, every team would drop a notch in bowls, and that might mean the Razorbacks would be left out unless the Independence Bowl folks were adamant about wanting a team from the Western Division. Surely the SEC could see the wisdom of keeping the Hogs close to home in the postseason.
Not sure why Florida is going bowling anyway. Gators Nation didn’t follow its team very well the last time it played in a non-BCS Championship Sugar Bowl. Their head coach has resigned — Will Muschamp is rumored to be in talks with Gus Malzahn at Auburn about being his defensive coordinator — so will the players really have fun or will it just be more of a reminder their leader was forced out?
If Alabama wins and all 12 teams make it to a bowl, the SEC will net more than $65 million from those bowls. Of course, $22 million could come from the Tide’s appearance in the playoffs and Mississippi State going to the $18 million Orange Bowl.
The seven SEC West teams would bring in $54 million compared with $11 million from their little brothers.
Again, this is predicated on Alabama beating Missouri, and if the Tide coaches are smart — and there’s no reason to believe otherwise — they will study long and hard the second half of the Tigers’ victory over the Razorbacks.
For those 30 minutes, they were as good a team as I saw all season. Granted, when the Hogs took on Alabama, the Tide were coming off a loss to Ole Miss and were never in sync.
The SEC Championship Game will be like a home game for the Tide, too. It is an easy drive to Atlanta. The Tigers Nation will sell out its allotment of tickets, but it won’t be able to get the free market tickets, and when you throw in hotel rooms it gets expensive.
Most likely Arkansas is going to Shreveport, and that’s fine with the Razorbacks Nation after two years of spending Christmastime at home.
The Independence Bowl is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., sandwiched in with a bunch of games considered lower-tiered bowls. It will mean extra practices, though, which are mostly used for redshirts who have been stuck on the scout team all season, and it could offer some much needed exposure in a prime recruiting area.