Texas A&M and Texas make sense for a bowl game, but The Overrated Bowl is not happening
In case you are wondering if Texas might play Texas A&M this bowl season, because the matchup makes sense on multiple levels for the type of bowl game that only interests family members or gamblers, of course the answer is a no.
When asked if Texas was approached about potentially playing Texas A&M in a bowl, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said, “No, because the Alamo Bowl picked three spots ahead. Never got to that question.”
Other than the national semifinal games, no bowl game would generate as much interest as a UT v TAMU. These mediocre, overpriced duds deserve each other at the moment.
The Aggies and Longhorns need to have a clear winner in the, “The Biggest Waste of Money Bowl, sponsored by the United States Government.”
Both teams finished 7-5 in power conferences. Neither team is ranked. Both schools print money.
Instead, Texas will play Utah on Dec. 31 in the Alamo Bowl. Texas A&M will play Oklahoma State on Dec. 27 in the Houston Bowl.
Those are fine.
Neither the SEC, nor Texas A&M, wants any part of an Aggies-Longhorns football game yet. They will one day, but it’s not today.
The football series between the two rivals ended after the 2011 season, when Texas A&M moved from the Big 12 to the SEC.
Any attempt at making this game happen again dies quickly. When the game does happen, it’s not going to be for some nothing bowl.
The SEC has nine bowl slots to fill, which does not include any potential matchup for one its teams that make the New Year’s Six games. Both LSU and Georgia made those select dates.
This is a confusing process, but the SEC has a tie with the Big 12 for two bowls: the Liberty Bowl and Texas Bowl. The tie is not a guarantee the game will feature those two conferences.
The Big 12’s selection process is similar to the SEC, in that once the playoff teams are taken, then it has an order. Oklahoma and Baylor both were selected for New Year’s Six bowl games.
That left the Alamo Bowl to eagerly grab the third-place finisher, Texas. Every bowl game wants Texas.
For the sake of discussion, if it worked out that somehow both Texas and Texas A&M would have been available, the SEC states in its bylaws, “In consultation with SEC member institutions, as well as these six bowls, the conference will make the assignments for the bowl games in the pool system.”
Translation: We put who we want where, and we don’t want Texas A&M playing Texas in The Blah Bowl on Animal Planet.
While Del Conte is on the record wanting the Longhorns to play the Aggies, a few good TAMU people told me they don’t want this game yet.
Any bowl game CEO with even 2 percent of a working brain would want a Texas vs. Texas A&M. The only marketing tool any more effective than a Texas vs. Texas A&M is free beer.
With middle and lower-tier bowl games struggling to generate much interest, event organizers rely on luring fans by marketing a reasonable proximity to the schools, a hot tourist city, and maybe a decent matchup.
Texas to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl will sell tickets. The same for the Aggies in Houston.
As far as the matchups for these two games?
They’re fine.
You’ll notice fine is a four-letter word.
