With all respect due to the Celebration Bowl and its champion Jackson State and this past Saturday's Salute to Veterans Bowl, bowl season resumes in earnest tomorrow. This year's bowl season has the added wrinkle of running concurrently with the first iteration of the 12 team playoff, which kicks off December 20-21 from campus sites.
First, the annual Dual Sudler count. A pair of Sudler Trophy winning marching bands will meet in as few as four and as many as eight matchups this post season. Outside of the Playoff, Arkansas and Texas Tech will meet in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, while Michigan and Alabama will see one another in the ReliaQuest Bowl. The opening round of the playoff pairs Indiana with Notre Dame, the winner of which will face Georgia, for the two guaranteed playoff occurrences. Should Ohio State, Penn State, and Texas make it out of the first round, Texas-Arizona State will meet in the quarters, with the potential for more matchups coming as others advance.
Sudlers aren't the only mark of a great band, of course, and there are other gems this bowl season. One that leapt off the page at me was Ohio's Marching 110 vs. Jacksonville State's Marching Southerners - a glorious clash of styles of two excellent bands.
This year's bowl season also adds the wrinkle that we don't yet know both participants in the Rose Bowl - and thus the Rose Parade - until after the opening round. Oregon's ticket is punched, and they await the winner of Tennessee-Ohio State, meaning either the Pride of the Southland or TBDBITL gets a week and a half notice of a 5.5 mile trip down Colorado Blvd. You've got to imagine each is beginning to prep - Ohio State moreso, as the Big Ten's relationship with the Rose Bowl makes an appearance the desired outcome each year - but that's quite the turnaround time. And assuming the Rose Bowl keeps its relationship with the Playoff, this could prompt a shift in the conditioning routines of bands with playoff aspirations.
Welcome back to the most wonderful time of the year.
Comments