Looking at the schedule for the upcoming college bowl games, there are a couple of things that don’t make sense.

First of all, two bowl games that have MAC tie-ins, games that NIU could possibly be involved in,
are played on Jan. 3 and Jan. 6, respectively.

The International Bowl in Toronto features a MAC team vs. a Big East team and is played on Jan. 3. The GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala. is played on Jan. 6 and features a MAC team vs. a C-USA team.

For some reason these games are played after the Sugar Bowl, the Rose Bowl and the Orange Bowl. Now, can somebody explain why a game between a MAC school and a C-USA school is played after the BCS Bowl games, and right before the BCS National Championship? They couldn’t schedule these games sometime in December, with all of the other bowl games?

The last five bowl games of the year should be the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Fiesta and BCS Championship, no exceptions. Your average college football fan isn’t going to gear up to see a middle of the road Big East team take on a MAC school after watching USC take on Ohio State in the Rose bowl. And the fact that the BCS National Championship is played on Jan. 8 instead of Jan. 4 is a completely different argument. Just play the game on Jan. 4 right after the other BCS games.

However, maybe the biggest problem with the International Bowl is that it’s obviously not played in the United States. It doesn’t make sense to have a bowl game between two American teams played in Toronto. I’m sure Toronto natives can’t wait to see Western Michigan play Cincinnati at the Rogers Centre.

A better site for the game would be an indoor facility in the Midwest such as the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis or the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis.

Let’s say NIU was to play in the International Bowl. How many Huskie fans would make the 10 hour trip to Toronto, especially since nowadays you have to go through the hassle of getting a passport? Fans who had planned on going to a bowl game might pass on this trip.

Lucas Oil Stadium would be the perfect venue for this game. The retractable-roof stadium wasn’t built when Toronto was awarded the game, but it would be the perfect site.

Indianapolis is right in the middle of MAC country, and fans wouldn’t have to travel too far. It’s also not a bad drive for some of the Big East schools, such as Louisville and Cincinnati.

So please, can we have these games played in December and can a game between two American schools actually be played in the United States?

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