Tudor's Take: More Irish for ACC

Without question, the most complicated item on the college football postseason buffet this season is the Gator Bowl, which will be played Jan. 1 at 1 p.m. in the Jacksonville (Fla.) Municipal Stadium.

On one end of the pairing will be a school from the ACC, which could be almost anyone except Duke, N.C. State, Clemson and Virginia.

On the other side probably will be Notre Dame, but that’s assuming the Irish (6-4 after Saturday’s narrow win over Navy) can beat either Southern California or Syracuse in their two games of the regular season.

Under an agreement that resembles the famous final scene from  “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”, the Gator has triangulated its selection process to include the ACC, the Big East (plus Notre Dame) and the Big 12 Conference.

Just to simplify things, an ACC team will go to Jacksonville after the end of this season (‘08) and after ‘09, when the league’s agreement with the bowl game expires. But at the end of each of those seasons, the Gator is obligated to pick Notre Dame once and a Big 12 rep once.

So what we are likely looking at here is the ACC vs. Notre Dame at the end of this regular season, and the ACC  vs. the Big 12 after ‘09.

After that, we’ll just have to wait and  see how the economy plays out. Any bowl game now closely linked to a bank and/or automotive company could be in serious sponsorship jeopardy.

The key to this season’s pairing from the Gator’s perspective is that a Notre Dame in the hand is a lot more lucrative than one in the bush. If the selection committee doesn’t take the Irish in ‘08, there’s always the outside chance that the Irish could win enough games in ‘09 to play their way into a BCS slot.

The Big 12, after ‘09, is a virtual lock to produce a 9-3 or 8-4 representative.  That makes it an easy call for the Gator folks. You take Notre Dame vs. anyone in ‘08 and score a decent television market share. And after ‘09, who knows? Maybe the game hits it big and lands UNC vs. Texas, or Miami vs. Oklahoma, or maybe even Bobby Bowden’s so-long song against Who Cares U.