Team Assignment to Bowls

Overview

Teams are always placed in their first bowl game with preference given to the higher seeded team. For first round matchups, ease of travel for fans is of primary concern. For quarterfinal games, teams receiving byes are placed to as best as possible maintain traditional bowl alliances.

Methods

When placing teams in bowls the following factors are considered:

Preference is always given to the higher seeded team.
Whenever practical, traditional bowl alliances should be preserved.
To aid in fans traveling to the bowls, teams located within 350 of the bowl site should be given preference.

Details

First Round Bowl Placement

Of primary concern in placing first round teams is ease of travel for fans. Therefore, should any higher seeded school be located within 350 miles of a bowl site (as determined by Microsoft MapPoint; see "Driving Distances from Campuses to Bowl Sites" document for exact driving mileages), that team is given priority in being placed in that bowl. If two high-seeded teams (#5 - #8) are within 350 miles of the same bowl, priority is determined as follows:

A team that is within 350 of only one bowl is given priority over a team that is within 350 miles of two bowls.
The team from a conference with a traditional bowl alliance to the bowl is given priority for that bowl.
The higher seed team is given priority.

If a single team is within 350 miles of two bowls, the team should be placed in the bowl to which it is nearer unless the team's conference has a traditional bowl alliance with the farther bowl.

For the teams not located within 350 miles of the bowl site, priority should next be given to those teams whose conferences have traditional bowl alliances with those bowls.

Finally, teams should be placed in the nearest remaining bowls in the order of seeding.

Should a situation arise that is not covered by the above rules, common sense should be used to place the teams as best as possible following the priorities given for bowl placement.

A Case Study of First Round Placements

In 2004 the four top-seeded teams in the first round of the EBS tournament -- #5 Texas, #6 California, #7 Georgia, and #8 Virginia Tech -- needed to be placed in the four first round bowl sites: Champs Sports Bowl (Orlando, FL), PapaJohns.com Bowl (Birmingham, AL), New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque, NM), and Emerald Bowl (San Francisco, CA).

Two teams are located within 350 miles of a bowl site. California is only 12 miles from the Emerald Bowl site, and Georgia is 217 miles from the PapaJohns.com Bowl site. Each school is therefore placed in their respective bowls.

The only remaining school having a conference affiliation with one of the two remaining bowls is Virginia Tech (ACC) with the Champs Sports Bowl. For this reason, Virginia Tech is placed in that bowl. Texas, the only remaining team, is placed in the New Mexico Bowl.

Quarterfinal Placement

The most important consideration when placing the bye teams in the second round is maintaining traditional bowl alliances. As a secondary concern, the proximity of the team to the bowl should be considered.

The placement of teams for the second round will vary depending on the which bowls are hosting. The following rules should be utilized when the Rose/Sugar bowls are hosting quarterfinal matchups:

If the Big 12 Champion has earned a bye, that team goes to the Cotton Bowl.
If the SEC Champion has earned a bye, that team goes to the Sugar Bowl.
If the Pac-10 Champion has earned a bye, that team goes to the Rose Bowl.
If the Big Ten Champion has earned a bye and the Pac-10 Champion has not earned a bye, the Big Ten Champion goes to the Rose Bowl.
If both the Big Ten and the Pac-10 champions have earned byes, the Big Ten Champion goes to the Capital One Bowl.
If no team has been placed in the Capital One Bowl, the higher ranked of the ACC and Big East Champions that have earned byes shall go to the Capital One Bowl.
Any remaining team located within 350 miles of a bowl site should be placed in that bowl with preference given to the higher seeded team.
Remaining teams should be placed in the bowl nearest to them with preference being given to the higher seeded team.
Should a situation arise that is not covered by the above rules, common sense should be used to place the teams as best as possible following the priorities given for bowl placement.

In years when the Fiesta and Orange Bowls serve as first round sites, the following rules should be utilized:

If the Pac-10 Champion has earned a bye, that team goes to the Fiesta Bowl.
If the ACC Champion has earned a bye, that team goes to the Orange Bowl.
If both the Big 12 and Pac-10 Champions have earned byes, the Big 12 Champion goes to the Cotton Bowl.
If both the Big 12 and SEC Champions have earned byes and the Pac-10 Champion has not earned a bye, the Big 12 Champion goes to the Fiesta Bowl and the SEC Champion goes to the Cotton Bowl.
If the Big 12 Champion has earned a bye and neither the Pac-10 nor the SEC Champions have earned byes, the Big 12 Champion goes to the Cotton Bowl.
If both the Big Ten and SEC Champions have earned byes and the Big 12 Champion has not earned a bye, the Big Ten Champion goes to the Capital One Bowl and the SEC Champion goes to the Cotton Bowl.
If the Cotton Bowl has had a team placed in it, and neither the Big Ten nor the SEC Champion (who have earned byes) has yet to be placed, the higher ranked of the Big Ten and SEC Champions shall go to the Capital One Bowl.
Any remaining team located within 350 miles of a bowl site should be placed in that bowl with preference given to the higher seeded team.
Remaining teams should be placed in the bowl nearest to them with preference being given to the higher seeded team.
Should a situation arise that is not covered by the above rules, common sense should be used to place the teams as best as possible following the priorities given for bowl placement.

A Case Study of Quarterfinal Placement

In 2005, four teams earning byes -- #1 S. California, #2 Texas, #3 Penn St., and #4 Notre Dame -- need to be placed in the four quarterfinal bowl sites: Capital One Bowl (Orlando, FL), Sugar Bowl (regularly New Orleans, LA), Cotton Bowl (Dallas, TX), and Rose Bowl (Pasadena, CA). Based on the rules outlined above, teams were placed as follows:

As Big 12 champion, Texas goes to the Cotton Bowl.
As Pac-10 champion, S. California goes to the Rose Bowl.
Because the Pac-10 champion has earned a bye, Big Ten champion Penn St. is placed in the Capital One Bowl.
As the only remaining team, Notre Dame is placed in the Sugar Bowl.

Semifinal Placement

The decision as to which teams advance to what semifinal bowl games is based entirely on the #1 seed. If the #1 team is from a conference that has an affiliation with one of the semifinal bowls, the winners from that half of the bracket would advance to that bowl; otherwise, if the #1 seed is playing in either the Capital One or Orange/Sugar Bowls (eastern quarterfinal sites) in the quarterfinals, the winners from that side of the bracket would advance to the Sugar/Orange Bowls (eastern semifinal sites). If the #1 seed is playing in either the Cotton or Fiesta/Rose Bowls (western quarterfinal sites) in the quarterfinals, the winners from that side of the bracket would advance to the Rose/Fiesta Bowls (western semifinals sites).