2012 Beef O'Brady's Bowl Preview

Date: December 21, 2012 7:30 PM ET
Stadium: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Payout: $537,500 per team
Played: 2008-present
Former Names: St. Petersburg Bowl (2008-2009)
Broadcasters: Dave Neal, Andre Ware, Desmond Howard
Sideline Reporter: Cara Capuano

UCF: Two of UCF's four losses came at the hands of Tulsa. The first meeting ended in a 23-21 defeat while the second was an overtime loss in the Conference USA Championship game that cost them a trip to the Liberty Bowl. The Knights' only other losses were to Ohio State and Missouri. The Knights are playing just 100 miles from home as they look to get the program's second bowl victory and have a 10-win season for the fourth time in Knights' football history.    

Ball State: The Cardinals finished the season with 6 straight wins. Ball State can credit their best season since 2008 to a rush attack that ranked 23rd nationally. Sophomore Jahwan Edwards and freshman Horactio Banks have combined for 1906 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns. Ball State is winless in five previous bowl appearances. The Cardinals look to get their first bowl win ever in Pete Lembo's second season as head coach.

	Central Florida			Ball State
Overall Record	9-4		Overall Record	9-3
Conference Record	7-1		Conference Record	6-2
Bowl Record	1-3		Bowl Record	0-5
Last Bowl Win	2010 Liberty		Last Bowl Win	N/A

All Time Series: 2-1 Central Florida
Line: Central Florida by 7

Boise State, San Diego State, SMU, Houston, And UCF Move To The Big East

Mountain West members Boise State and San Diego State are moving to the Big East as football-only members. Conference USA members SMU, Houston, and Central Florida. are moving to the Big East in all sports to replace West Virginia, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse. Since the three leaving schools will be held to the 27-month departure period, the Big East would have 13 football teams in 2013 and then would be down to 10 football teams in 2014.

There is no guarantee after the 2013 season that the Big East will continue to have an automatic qualifying bid to the BCS, nor is there a guarantee there will even still be a BCS after the contract expires in 2013. A larger share of television revenue was the other benefit of joining the Big East by the five new members.

I think it is stupid having a conference spread across the entire United States in four different time zones. Think of the travel costs for the institutions and fans. I think it stupid these teams moved to a conference that only has two more years of an automatic BCS qualifier guaranteed. The five new members will only have a shot at the 2013 BCS slot as they will not join until the 2013 football season. I question the long-term stability of this arrangement.

The Big East is still looking at expanding to 12 football members. Names being thrown around are Navy in football only or schools such as Temple, Memphis, or East Carolina in all sports. The Temple and Memphis basketball programs would beef up Big East basketball after the losses of three quality basketball schools.

A Mountain West-Conference USA merger is probably imminent in the future.

Big East Expansion Targets

With the announced departure of West Virginia from the Big East last Friday, along with the previous news of TCU, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse turning their backs on the Big East, the once-proud conference is fighting for its survival.

The Big East is looking to add Houston, Southern Methodist, and Central Florida in all sports.

The Big East is looking to add Boise State, Air Force, and Navy as football-only members.

The Big East will need to make one more invitation to get to John Marinatto's desired size of twelve members with the recent loss of West Virginia. Other schools being considered are BYU, Army, Temple, East Carolina, and Memphis.

Looking at how unstable the Big East is right now, why would any school want to make the jump? There is no guarantee the Big East will keep its autobid to the BCS after 2013 even if it does patch itself back together. Announcements on whether these schools will go to the Big East or not will be released tomorrow it is rumored. It is unlikely all of the six aformentioned schools will join if invited.

The Big East needs to figure out what it wants to be: a basketball conference or a conference for all sports. Some conference members don't field football teams. Some conference members like Notre Dame are involved in all sports except football. Other conference members are committed in all sports. There are offers are being made to schools to be football-only members. Unequal commitments will not work in the long term. The Big East needs to get this in its head or it will forever be destined to fail.

2010 AutoZone Liberty Bowl Preview

December 31, 2010 3:30 PM ET

Stadium: Liberty Bowl, Memphis, Tennessee

Payout: $1,700,000

Played: 1959-present

Once known as: N/A

Broadcasters: Charlie Neal, Andre Ware

Sideline Reporter: Cara Capuano

Storyline: The AutoZone Liberty Bowl will feature the two highest-rated freshman quarterbacks in the FBS, Central Florida’s Jeff Godfrey and Georgia’s Aaron Murray. Godfrey passed for 2,042 yards this fall and ran for 546 yards and nine touchdowns. Murray passed for 2,851 yards and twenty-four touchdowns. Georgia is looking to end a disappointing 6-6 season with a winning record. If the Bulldogs lose to the Knights, they will have their first losing season in 14 years. UCF won the Conference USA title this year and is within reach of a school-record 11 wins should it be able to defeat Georgia. UCF is looking to beat a BCS conference foe and get the Knights’ first bowl win ever. With more conference expansion on the horizon, a big win on the national stage could shine as favorable light on the program. Georgia beat Central Florida 24-23 on September 25, 1999, the only meeting between the two schools.

All-time Series: 1-0 Georgia

Line: Georgia by 6.5

	Georgia			Central Florida
Overall Record	6-6		Overall Record	10-3
Conference Record	3-5		Conference Record	7-1
Bowl Record	26-16-3		Bowl Record	0-3
Last Bowl Win	2009 Independence		Last Bowl Win	N/A

C-USA Home Attendance Figures

	East Carolina			Houston
Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium			Robertson Stadium
S5 Tulsa	50,010		S4 Texas State	32,119
S11 Memphis	48,123		S10 UTEP	32,119
O16 NC State	50,410		S25 Tulane	32,007
O23 Marshall	50,145		O9 Mississippi State	32,067
N6 Navy	50,191		N5 UCF	32,008
N26 SMU	49,108		N13 Tulsa	30,046
AVERAGE	49,665		AVERAGE	31,728
	Marshall			Memphis
Edwards Stadium			Liberty Bowl
S10 West Virginia	41,382		S18 Middle Tennessee	27,965
S25 Ohio	28,143		O2 Tulsa	22,231
O13 UCF	23,601		O16 Southern Miss	18,848
O30 UTEP	24,740		O30 Houston	19,731
N13 Memphis	25,108		N6 Tennessee	39,742
N27 Tulane	19,302		N27 UCF	14,992
AVERAGE	27,046		AVERAGE	23,918
	Rice			Southern Methodist
Rice Stadium, Reliant Stadium*			Gerald J. Ford Stadium
S4 Texas*	70,445		S11 UAB	16,612
S18 Northwestern	15,562		S18 Washington State	18,184
S25 Baylor	23,395		S24 TCU	35,481
O2 SMU	14,981		O9 Tulsa	19,329
O16 Houston	26,342		O23 Houston	20,741
N20 East Carolina	15,262		N20 Marshall	17,513
N27 UAB	13,007
AVERAGE	25,571		AVERAGE	21,310
	Southern Miss			Tulane
M.M. Roberts Stadium			Louisiana Superdome
S11 Prairie View A&M	27,316		S2 Southeast Louisiana	20,258
S17 Kansas	30,211		S11 Mississippi	36,389
O2 Marshall	27,518		O9 Army	28,756
O9 East Carolina	32,334		O30 SMU	18,636
O30 UAB	26,415		N6 Southern Miss	22,737
N20 Houston	32,606		N13 Rice	16,698
			N20 UCF	19,069
AVERAGE	29,400		AVERAGE	23,220
	Tulsa			UAB
Chapman Stadium			Legion Field
S11 Bowling Green	19,565		S2 Florida Atlantic	25,885
S25 Central Arkansas	21,928		S18 Troy	23,681
O16 Tulane	23,295		O16 UTEP	11,756
N6 Rice	19,036		N6 Marshall	17,860
N20 UTEP	16,547		N11 East Carolina	14,083
N26 Southern Miss	21,901		N20 Memphis	16,177
AVERAGE	20,379		AVERAGE	18,240
	UCF			UTEP
Bright House Networks Stadium			Sun Bowl
S4 South Dakota	34,373		S4 Arkansas-Pine Bluff	30,029
S11 NC State	43,020		S18 New Mexico State	39,214
O6 UAB	40,281		S25 Memphis	29,765
O23 Rice	38,151		O9 Rice	28,955
O30 East Carolina	40,073		O23 Tulane	25,007
N13 Southern Miss	40,358		N6 SMU	23,127
D4 SMU	41,045
AVERAGE	39,614		AVERAGE	29,350

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE BY SCHOOL

East Carolina	49,665
UCF	39,614
Houston	31,728
Southern Miss	29,400
UTEP	29,350
Marshall	27,046
Rice	25,571
Memphis	23,918
Tulane	23,220
Southern Methodist	21,310
Tulsa	20,379
UAB	18,240

Home Game Attendance

Over the next two weeks I will be releasing teams' home attendance figures for 2010 by conference.

Here is the schedule for these postings:
12/18 Atlantic Coast
12/19 Big 12
12/20 Big East
12/21 Big Ten
12/22 Pacific 10
12/23 Southeastern
12/24 Independents
12/25 Conference USA
12/26 Mid-America
12/27 Mountain West
12/28 Sun Belt
12/29 Western Athletic

Official NCAA attendance figures will not be made available until late February, so enjoy perusing these numbers early. Links to these postings will be put up on the page in the sidebar entitled 2010 Home Attendance.

A few sidenotes to keep in mind when perusing these numbers in the coming days:

1. Each FBS team must play five home games. One of those five home games is allowed to be played at site that is not the school's home stadium.
2. Arkansas played a home game November 27th at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas.
3. Northwestern played a home game November 20th at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois.
4. Rice played a home game September 4th at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.
5. Florida Atlantic played a home game September 11th at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan.
6. Louisiana-Monroe played a home game September 11th at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, Arkansas.
7. Virginia Tech, Iowa, Alabama, Auburn, and Georgia apparently don't use turnstile counts, but rather the stadiums capacity for sellouts. The same figure gets recycled over and over.
8. Clemson and North Carolina round their attendence figures to the nearest 500.
9. The Conference USA plays its championship game at the home stadium of the division winner with the better regular season record. In the case of 2010, Central Florida was the host of the championship game, and therefore tallied another home game.
10. By chance, three teams will be playing bowl games in their home stadium. Since these are postseason games, organized by an outside committee and not by the university that happens to be playing in its home stadium, they do not count as home games.