Conference USA Announces Affiliation With Galleryfurniture.com Bowl
 |  December 27th, 2000. |
May 18, 2000
NEW ORLEANS - America's newest postseason game, the recently certified Galleryfurniture.com Bowl, will kick off its inaugural game on December 27th, 2000 as the Big 12 and Conference USA send teams to compete at the Astrodome in Houston. Landing the affiliations with two top conferences was one of the priorities of the new bowl game, and organizers are optimistic that the inaugural game on December 27th will feature an exciting match-up with teams from those conferences.
The Big 12 is one of the strongest football conferences in the nation that includes among its members some of the most storied programs in college football history. The Big 12 had four teams that finished in the Top-25 last season, including #3 Nebraska and #6 Kansas State, and eight of its twelve members have appeared in at least one postseason bowl game over the last two seasons. The Big 12 also has strong regional ties with Houston as Texas A&M, University of Texas, Texas Tech, and Baylor are all located in the same state, and Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are less than 500 miles away. Big 12 Commissioner Kevin Weiberg elaborated on the Big 12's ties with the City, "We believe that Houston is a very important market for the Big 12 Conference. Not only are our coaches actively involved in recruiting prospective student-athletes from the Houston area, but we also have a large base of alumni from our Universities that live in the Houston area. Last year, there were nearly 90 student-athletes from the Houston area on the rosters of Big 12 football teams."
Conference USA, which kicks off its fifth season in 2000, is coming off a solid 1999 season. C-USA placed three teams in bowl games, had two teams ranked in the Top-25 most of the season, and posted a pair of non-conference wins over Top 10-ranked teams. Southern Mississippi has won or shared three of the previous four Conference USA championships, and finished 9-3 in 1999 with a No. 13 national ranking. East Carolina, which also finished 9-3 last season, was nationally ranked most of the season before finishing just out of the final Top 25 rankings. C-USA also grabbed national headlines last season after Cincinnati knocked off eventual Rose Bowl and Big Ten champion Wisconsin, while East Carolina, battling the effects of Hurricane Floyd that ravaged its campus and community, beat then No. 9-ranked Miami (Fla.).
C-USA has nine football-playing members: Army, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Houston, Louisville, Memphis, Southern Miss, Tulane, and UAB. TCU, a former Southwest Conference member, and current member of the WAC, will join C-USA in 2001 and give the league 10 football members. Conference USA also has regional ties to Houston as Conference USA commissioner Mike Slive pointed out, "Houston provides excellent exposure for our teams in a market that is home to one of our institutions and close to TCU, Tulane, Memphis and others...and combines one of the nation's largest markets with great football fans."
The strength of the conferences was evident last season when both conferences had more bowl eligible teams than post-season opportunities, so that one team from each conference did not play in a bowl game. In fact, under the current league arrangements, had the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl been played in 1999 the game likely would have featured an All-Texas match-up of Texas Tech versus the University of Houston. The opportunity for a great match-up between the Big 12 and Conference USA has Bowl organizers, the City of Houston, conference officials, and student-athletes all eagerly anticipating the inaugural Galleryfurniture.com Bowl.
