Sun Belt good fit for bowl

The rapidly changing college football bowl landscape is about to have a major impact on Mobile's GMAC Bowl.

Within the next couple of weeks, bowl officials are expected to announce a tie-in with the Sun Belt Conference that could pave the way for the Troy Trojans to play a bowl game in their home state as early as next season and for the South Alabama Jaguars to play their first bowl game ever in their home stadium.

This season's game, scheduled for Jan. 6 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, is still set to feature a team from the Mid-American Conference against the No. 9 team from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The MAC team will almost certainly be Central Michigan, a good team with a marquee star at quarterback. Some college football experts have compared Dan LeFevour to Tim Tebow, and LeFevour's career rushing and passing numbers are equal or superior to the Florida star's (though not against the consistently strong competition). Central Michigan has reeled off five straight wins — including an impressive victory at Michigan State — after opening the season with a 19-6 setback at Arizona.

But figuring out who the Chippewas will play in Mobile is part of the impetus for the decision to partner with the Sun Belt Conference. The No. 9 team in the ACC could be Florida State in perhaps Bobby Bowden's final season or Clemson or North Carolina. That sounds great. The problem is that none of those teams are guaranteed to win the six games necessary to become bowl eligible. Today there are eight ACC teams at .500 or better. That would leave GMAC Bowl officials scrambling for an eligible at-large team that isn't contractually obligated to another bowl.

This season that could mean Southern Miss, Hawaii or who knows what other team. That's not the position anyone wants to be in seven weeks before bowl matchups are finalized....