Here’s how it works …
DAY 1 – The announcement is made that the College Football Playoff is going to expand to 24 teams. Some like it, some don’t and everybody has an opinion.
DAY 2 – How many teams could conceivably get in from the SEC or the Big 10? Could a team with four losses actually make it? Will Ohio State vs. Michigan still have the same importance as before?
DAY 3 – Now everybody has thought about it and had time to let it settle in. A 12-team playoff? That’s sooooo 2026.
Up until this point, it’s all about how it affects the big boys. Then comes –
DAY 4 – Hang on now, gang. Maybe this whole expanded CFP thing might actually have other components to it other than whether 8-4 Minnesota gets a chance to compete for a natty. Has anybody stopped to think about that?
Rest assured, the folks at the Independence Bowl didn’t wake up on Day 4 and get caught by surprise.
They’re aware. It’s not their first in-danger-of-extinction rodeo.
In a bowl world in which nobody really knows what’s going to happen, local bowl officials didn’t sit around and wait for dominos to start falling.
“We’ve been having those conversations for a couple of years now,” says newly minted Executive Director Erik Evenson. “This news just kind of ramped up a little and more on the forefront. We’ve told our conference partners that once you guys figure out what the system is, we want to be in there. We want to be in your lineup.”
Easier said than done.
Right off the top, there are going to be 12 teams, that would normally be in a higher-tier bowl, that will now be in the playoffs. That’s six bowl games right there.
Start filtering that down and things start to get dicey.
But not only is there no clear path to how this is all going to work, the trees haven’t even been cut down.
“We don’t really know the specifics of how it’s going to impact the bowl system as a whole yet,” Evenson says. “But when it comes down to it, it’s obviously going to impact bowls. We believe there’s still space for bowl games, and we’re just trying to figure out what that is, and how we’re going to fit into that, no matter what it is.”
And you knew this was coming, so here it is: “Whatever the bowl system is moving forward, the Independence Bowl will find a way into that into that system,” Evenson says.
Ain’t that the truth.
Perhaps the biggest thing the bowl has going for it is its longevity. The Independence Bowl is 11th in bowl seniority. It may not be the Granddaddy Of Them All, but it’s got a few cousins still hanging around the family tree.
Which is more than you can say for the TransPerfect San Juan Bowl. Never heard of it? That’s because it goes all the way back to December 12 … of this year.
“We’ve been proactive and working with our conference partners and other conferences,” Evenson says. “We’ve been telling them that whatever the system is, we’re ready to start those conversations. We want a spot and in your lineup. The conversations haven’t gone super deep yet just because everybody’s kind of waiting to see what system is going to be.”
Nobody knows; at least not yet. All sorts of ideas have been kicked around as the bowls try to find a way to stay alive. The one just off Interstate 20 has been around for 50 of them and that’s got to count for something.
“I think the best thing we have going for us is our tradition, our history, and our name value,” Evenson says. “We really treat this as a traditional bowl where we’re going to give the two teams a great experience. We’re going to give them great hospitality. We going to give them a memorable bowl week. I think that puts us in a really good position because everybody knows throughout the system that the Independence Bowl is going to treat you well and you’re going to have a really good experience.”
Take that, TransPerfect San Juan Bowl!
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com