2010–11 NCAA football bowl games

The 2010–11 NCAA football bowl games concluded the

A new record of 35 team-competitive bowls, plus five all-star games, were played, including the inaugural TicketCity Bowl and Pinstripe Bowl (the International Bowl was dropped from the schedule this season). While bowl games had been the purview of only the very best teams for nearly a century, this was the fifth consecutive year that teams with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games. To fill the 70 available team-competitive bowl slots, a new record total of 14 teams (20% of all participants) with non-winning seasons participated in bowl games—all 14 had a .500 (6-6) season.

Selection of the teams

In a significant change from the 2009–10 bowl cycle, the NCAA scrapped a bylaw which mandated that a school with a record of 6–6 in regular season play was eligible only if conferences could not fill out available positions for bowl games with teams possessing seven (or more) wins (excluding games played in

This change in policy ultimately led to Temple—a team that went 8–4 in the regular season, including a win over Big East BCS representative UConn—going uninvited.

On June 10, Southern California was declared ineligible for two years as a result of the eligibility of Reggie Bush from 2003 through 2005. While the program is appealing their 2011–12 eligibility, they have decided to accept the penalty for this season, snapping a nine-season streak of bowl appearances.

Eligible teams

• ACC (9): Virginia Tech (11–2 and ACC Champions), Florida State (9–4 and ACC Atlantic Champions), North Carolina State (8–4), Maryland (8–4), Miami (Florida) (7–5), North Carolina (7–5), Boston College (7–5), Georgia Tech (6–6), Clemson (6–6)
• Big East (6): South Florida (7-4), West Virginia (9-3 and Big East co-champions), Syracuse (7-5), Pittsburgh (7-5 and Big East co-champions), Connecticut (8-4, Big East Champions and Big East BCS Representative), Louisville (6-6)
• Big 12 (8): Missouri (10–2 and co-champion of Big 12 North), Oklahoma State (10–2 and co-champion Big 12 of Big 12 South Division), Baylor (7-5), Nebraska (10-3, Big 12 North Champions, will represent Big 12 North in Big 12 Championship), Oklahoma (11–2) (Big 12 Champions), Texas A&M (9–3 and co-champion Big 12 South Division), Kansas State (7–5), Texas Tech (7-5)
• Big Ten (8): Michigan State (11–1) (clinched a share of the Big Ten Championship), Ohio State (11–1) (clinched a share of the Big Ten Championship), Wisconsin (11–1) (clinched a share of the Big Ten Championship), Northwestern (7–5), Iowa (7–5), Michigan (7-5), Penn State (7–5), Illinois (6-6)
• Conference USA (6): UCF (10-3 and C-USA Champions), Tulsa (9-3 and Co-Champion of the C-USA West Division), Southern Miss (8-4), UTEP (6-6), East Carolina (6-6), SMU (7-6, C-USA West Champions and C-USA Championship Game West Division Representative)
• MAC (6): NIU (10–3 and MAC West Champions), Temple (8–4), Ohio (8–4), Toledo (8-4), Miami (Ohio) (9-4 and MAC Conference Champions), Western Michigan (6-6)
• Mountain West (5): TCU (12–0) (MWC Conference Champions), Utah (10–2), San Diego State (8–4), Air Force (8-4), BYU (6–6)
• Pac-10 (4): Oregon (12–0) (Pac-10 Conference Champions), Stanford (11–1), Arizona (7–5), Washington
  (6–6)
• SEC (10): Auburn (13–0 and SEC Champions), Arkansas (10-2), LSU (10–2), Alabama (9–3), South Carolina (9-4 and SEC East Champions), Mississippi State (8-4), Florida (7-5), Kentucky (6-6), Tennessee (6-6), Georgia (6-6)
• Florida International (6-6 and Clinched Sun Belt Championship), Troy (7-5 and Sun Belt co-champions) Middle Tennessee
  (6-6)
• WAC (4): Boise State (11–1 and WAC co-champions), Nevada (12-1 and WAC co-champions), Hawaii (9-3 and WAC co-champions), Fresno State (8-4)
• Independents (3): Navy (9-3), Army (6-6), Notre Dame (7-5)
• Total eligible teams: 72

Note: Neither Temple nor Western Michigan, both from the MAC, was selected for a bowl game, despite being bowl-eligible.

New bowls, sponsors, and stadiums in 2010–11

New games

Two new games were played this season. The

With this year's expansion to 35 bowl games, the NCAA has placed a three-year moratorium, starting with the 2011–12 bowl season, on any new bowl games. The expansion to 70 teams required to fill these 35 bowl games has challenged the ability to actually find enough teams with winning (7-5 or higher) records to fill bowl slots. Teams with non-winning (6-6) and losing (6-7) records have participated in bowl games since the expansion to 35 games. By the 2012–13 bowl season, with multiple teams ineligible due to sanctions, the NCAA was forced to anticipate a need for teams with even worse (5-7) losing records to fill bowl selection slots in 2012–13.

New sponsors

A total of nine games had new sponsors. Two BCS games — the

One postseason all-star game changed both its location and name. The Texas vs The Nation game was renamed for its title sponsor, the National Football League Players Association, and moved from El Paso to the Alamodome in San Antonio. The game retained the old "Texas vs. the Nation" format used in all of the other previous games.

New site

One previous bowl had a different venue beginning in the 2010–2011 bowl game season. The Armed Forces Bowl, which was held at Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth since its inception in 2003, was displaced due to a renovation project that started immediately after TCU's last home game of the season. The project was not expected to be complete until 2012. As a result, the 2010 and 2011 editions of the game were moved to Gerald J. Ford Stadium on the campus of Southern Methodist University in the Dallas enclave of University Park.

Television

As a result of the changes, only three bowl games aired on broadcast television: the Hyundai

The 2010–11 bowl season was the last of several schools in the current conferences configurations. In May and June 2010, reports surfaced that seven or eight schools would leave the Big 12 Conference (which was originally formed from the old Big Eight Conference and four of the schools from the defunct Southwest Conference – Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Baylor) to go to new conferences.

On June 6,

On June 11, Boise State announced their intentions to leave the WAC and join the Mountain West Conference. In August 2010, WAC members Nevada and Fresno State followed suit, leaving the WAC with six teams. Boise State will join the MWC in 2011, with Fresno State and Nevada following in 2012.

The Pac-10 added Utah from the MWC on June 17, effective 2011, expanding the Pacific-10 Conference to twelve teams, with the conference officially becoming the Pac-12 Conference in July 2011.

The Big 12 will remain intact (sans Nebraska and Colorado) as a ten-team league, discontinuing their

The next conference movements came on November 11, when the WAC added two new football members in Texas State and UTSA, both FCS schools from the Southland Conference. Texas State had an established football program, while UTSA was slated to begin full FCS play in 2011. Both schools will now upgrade their football programs to FBS level, join the WAC for all sports in 2012, and become full FBS members in 2013.

Later, on December 10,

NOTE:. All times US EST (UTC -5).

Post-BCS all-star games

References

Further reading

• "ESPN.com's 2010-11 All-Bowl Team". ESPN. January 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2019.

External links

• 2010–11 NCAA football bowl games at ESPN