Bowl Rumors: Cats Want Liberty

According to an article by Chip Cosby of the Lexington Herald-Leader and a report from Kentucky Sports Radio, the Cats are most likely heading out to Memphis for the Liberty Bowl. Apparently the Liberty Bowl wants them, and UK Coach Rich Brooks wants a change of scenery.

In the SEC Bowl selection process, the Liberty Bowl and Music City Bowl rank available qualified teams in order of preference. If the preferences are the same, the team who is preferred gets to choose where it wants to go. There is of course the ever present possibility of a change of heart from Rich Brooks, but assuming both bowls want Kentucky, the implication for Vanderbilt in that scenario is that we will be heading to the Music City Bowl. That being said, the only way that the Commodores would NOT be going to the Music City Bowl is if the Liberty chooses Vanderbilt directly, which given our end of the season slide seems unlikely, or if Rich Brooks has said change of heart.

It's not difficult to see that we at VSL are thoroughly for the Music City Bowl. While I would understand the players desire to travel somewhere for a bowl, I think the best choice for the Commodores would be Nashville. For one, Vanderbilt's status as a premier national university means that most of the alumni aren't living in Nashville right now (myself included). This game, the Commodores first in 26 years, played in a town which all alumni hold dearly, at 3:30 PM on a New Years Eve, will attract a MUCH greater percentage of the national alumni than playing in Memphis on January 2nd. If you can't picture the flat out awesomeness of that entire scene, see Seamus comment in the previous post. I can understand a lot of disappointment with the local fan base, as well as the student body, but folks we'd like to come home. It'll be a lot better than you think.

But if that's not enough to convince you, how about these: 1. the payout is bigger , 2. this is a game against an ACC opponent on the afternoon of New Years Eve. I fail to see how it would be much better to take a bowl against Conference USA on January 2nd simply so people could travel a whole three hours to Memphis.

One more point that was ably put in a discussion between myself and Bobby, this is a step to something better. Our team, who lost three players in major positions to the NFL (all selected in the 4th round or below), who had a senior starting line last year to replace, and for whom there is a great deal of young talent sticking around, achieved a great deal in this season. The fact that many were hoping for a greater bowl than this one is a testament to how much the attitude has changed. IMHO, the future is very bright. We're going to have our chances to travel.

Chances of Music City for the Commies: 75-85%