AAC, Sun Belt announce Cure Bowl slated for 2015 in Orlando

By Andy Coffaro -

The American Athletic Conference and the Sun Belt Conference have announced that teams from the two conferences will meet up starting in 2015 in the inaugural Cure Bowl. The contest will take place in Orlando, Florida in the newly renovated Citrus Bowl.

According to press releases by both conferences, the Cure Bowl will work closely with charitable organizations striving to find cures for breast cancer. The newly announced game will give Orlando 3 bowl matchups starting in 2015, along with the Capital One and Russell Athletic Bowls.

Since the 2005-2006 season, 11 more bowl games have been added to the schedule, which raises the grand total of postseason matchups to 39 in 2015-2016. It also raises the issue of having 78 bowl eligible teams. Prior to the 2012 season, schools needed to win six contests to become bowl eligible, and according to ESPN, “a sixth win against a Football Championship Subdivision team only counts if the FCS school meets scholarship requirements.”

Due in part, no doubt, to the massive explosion in bowl games over the past decade, the NCAA made changes to its bowl eligibility requirements during the summer of 2012. The following conditions now allow schools to become bowl candidates:

  • One win over any FCS school counts.
  • Schools that have two wins over FCS schools can become eligible if there’s a shortage of available teams.
  • Squads that finish 6-7 but lost their conference game (such as UCLA in 2011).
  • 6-7 teams that played a 13-game schedule, which typically involves the Hawaii Exemption.
  • If desperate enough, the NCAA could invite FCS teams transitioning to FBS if they possess a 6-6 record.

Do you think the amount of bowl games is getting out of control or do you enjoy watching all the postseason action during December and January?

2014-15 College Football Bowl Schedule

Andy Coffaro is a contributor to FBSchedules.com. Follow him on Twitter @andycoffaro and LinkedIn.

Comments (8)

Look I’m actually one of the people that doesn’t mind extra bowls because 1) it’s an opportunity for more money to funnel to colleges that NEED these programs to be profitable and 2) it’s a chance for the players to have both a last chance to play and have a little bit of a vacation. But did all of these recent bowls have to only be in Florida??

You have to remember the playoffs are considered 3 bowl games. about the only real change to the eligibility factor is the change to FCS teams. It allows schools to play partial scholarship or non scholarship schools. It wouldn’t change much if anything. Though i personally would like to see a Alabama(or any school in the big 5) play a pioneer league school to see what the final score would be.

What stupid idea to exploit cancer as a way to create a bowl game. You know damn well very little money will actually go to where it needs to go….

I have no problem with more bowl games. I watch out of conference games during the season involving teams with losing records so why would a game involving 6-6 (at worst) teams be a problem?

Each team in college basketball has 30 meaningless games before March so this isn’t an issue at all for me.

I think I’m in the same boat Christopher. I’ll watch cellar-dwelling MAC games on ESPN3 during the season, so I’m OK with all these bowl games. However, I certainly don’t think it’s must-see TV, so I don’t exactly plan my evenings around many of these bowl contests.

I like the idea of more bowl games for schools that cannot get invited to the Big 5 Bowls and playoffs? Eliminate FCS, just make them all (FBS &FCS) Division 1, and have “Bowl Playoffs”, 4 teams each, and you would still have 39 Champions, plus the “Big Final Four Playoffs”?

Does everyone realize that ESPN owns the rights to most all of the bowls and they are the driving force behind the bowl expansion?