FCSports Selection Sunday Open to the Public
This Sunday, December 5, Florida Citrus Sports will announce which teams will be coming to Orlando this year to play in the 2010 Champs Sports Bowl and the 2011 Capital One Bowl as part of a special Selection Sunday event at Ember (42 West Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801). The event kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and is free to the public.
The Capital One Bowl options have proved to be a win-win. Both the SEC and the Big Ten have had exceptional seasons. The SEC West has been one of the most dominant divisions in the nation and currently represents five of the SEC’s six top 25 teams. As Auburn and South Carolina square off in Atlanta, other teams such as LSU, Arkansas, and Alabama wait to see how the SEC Championship Game will affect their bowl fate.
With three teams in the Big Ten having only one loss and a top-10 BCS Ranking (Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Michigan State), the Big Ten selection will be based on which teams get selected to play in the BCS (Rose Bowl and a possible at-large bid), leaving the third team to play in the Capital One Bowl.
The Champs Sports Bowl team selection has been narrowed down on both sides of the ball (Big East/Notre Dame and ACC). Teams include: Florida State, Maryland, NC State, Boston College, Miami, and North Carolina from the ACC and West Virginia, UConn, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, USF, and Notre Dame from the Big East. Florida State reached the ACC Championship Game after Maryland defeated NC State. NC State held the tie-breaker over the Seminoles going into last weekend’s contest but dropped from the Championship Game with the loss. The Terps and Wolfpack are both strong contenders to come to Orlando. Miami, despite a tumultuous finish to the season, remains in contention with a 5-3 conference record. North Carolina and Boston College are both sitting at 4-4.
West Virginia’s win over Pittsburgh last weekend helped shape the Big East. Connecticut controls its own destiny and must beat USF in order to receive the conference’s automatic BCS bid. Both Syracuse and South Florida remain in the conversation as both teams have 7 wins and some key upsets including the Orange’s win over West Virginia and the Bulls’ upset over Miami. Notre Dame re-emerged after defeating Utah, Army, and USC in consecutive weeks to finish at 7-5.