Now it's clear why the Sun Bowl cast its lot with the ACC: the Gator Bowl is apparently close to finalizing a Big Ten/SEC game. Three thoughts:
1. Is there any chance, at all, of resulting bid reshuffling leaving a game like the Liberty or Music City bowls dissatisfied to the point where they would look for another partner?
2. The SEC can arguably stomach a tougher bowl slate, going 5-2 last year. However, it's ridiculous that the Big Ten can go 1-6 (proving that it's overmatched and overrated to begin with), and subsequently see an upgrade in its lineup.
3. The reason why this happened, as I've pointed out, is because SEC and Big Ten teams have the most fan support. It's solely an economic decision. Which will turn the Big Ten matchups into blowouts and ratings poison. At some point have to wonder, where is the limit for fans of teams in those two conferences? Can 80,000+ fans continue to fill stadiums for matchups with MAC and Sun Belt patsies, glorified scrimmages held for the sole purposes of filling program coffers and transferring those revenues out of fan pockets? The big guys will be fine, but how do fans of middling programs justify continuing to support those teams with the rust belt economy in tatters? How do you justify going to a near-certain bowl loss?
I'd raise my hands and leave it at "this is completely insane, and college football makes absolutely no sense on so many levels"; but we appear to be about two decades past that level of sheer audacity at this point.