Selection Committee meets as regular season nears end
On Monday at Camping World Stadium, Florida Citrus Sports’ Team Selection Committee held its final Monday morning meeting of the season, leaving only the end-of-season Team Selection Committee Town Hall before Camping World Bowl and Vrbo Citrus Bowl teams are chosen on Sunday, Dec. 8.
This time, Rob Rogers opened up the meeting with a report on his and Edward Schoenleber’s trip to Boston College-Notre Dame before Tim Meyer discussed his and Glen Conwell’s trip to Waco for Baylor’s win over Texas on Saturday.
“It was a sold out game and it was a pretty good scene,” Meyer said. “There’s tons of tents, tons of tailgating, and Baylor fans were pretty optimistic that they were going to play in the Big 12 championship game, which they are now.”
Elsewhere in the Big 12, Matthew Kanarick attended his third TCU game this season — but his first game at Oklahoma in 25 years — as the Horned Frogs fell to the Sooners in Norman. In the Big Ten, Chuck Zegelbone said he and Kurt Langschwager were met by a pair of optimistic fan bases when the duo took in Michigan’s win over Indiana.
“Indiana felt good about its chance to win this game, but Michigan looked absolutely great,” Zegelbone said. “The Michigan people are high on their chances to come here, but the Indiana people are excited, as well.”
In Columbus, meanwhile, Christopher Baker and Brian Lowe interacted with fans from both Ohio State and Penn State, however, one of their most unique takeaways from the tailgate lots was from a conversation with an Iowa fan who was in town for the major conference clash.
“ shared that their experience last year was amazing,” Baker recalled, “but then we ran into one Iowa fan who said, ‘Will you take us? Are we being considered for your bowl?’ which was interesting.”
Christopher Kearney and Randolph Cox wrapped up the Big Ten presentations with a report from Purdue-Wisconsin — “We had very favorable interactions with the Badgers fans, but their focus is on Minnesota and a shot at the Rose Bowl,” Kearney said — and then Cassie Yde closed the road reports with a recap from Arkansas-LSU.
“Every national championship team has a great leader, and Joe Burrow was composed,” Yde said of the Tigers’ quarterback. “You could tell that, on the field, he’s going to get his team where it needs to go.”
The Team Selection Committee is an all-volunteer community that represents Florida Citrus Sports at games across the Big Ten, SEC, ACC and Big 12, and participation is open to all active members. To learn more about membership options, visit our information page.