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When the Sun Belt only had one guaranteed bowl tie-in, the Motor City Bowl, later known as the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl often used the conference as a backup option. From 2006 to 2012, four Sun Belt teams participated in Detroit’s bowl, including three first-time bowl teams. Now, with conference realignment rumors churning, the Sun Belt could reunite with its bowl partner of old.
Shane Mettlen of the Daily News Record dropped a bombshell when he reported Ohio had conversations with the Sun Belt about joining. Hardly anyone considers the Bobcats a worthy candidate for Sun Belt expansion, but Mettlen cited midweek MAC games and the eastward expansion of the league as reasons for Ohio’s dissatisfaction.
While adding Ohio would stretch the Sun Belt further geographically, it could boost the conference’s bowl lineup. Detroit’s GameAbove Sports Bowl pits the MAC against the Big Ten’s seventh bowl-eligible team after the College Football Playoff. However, dating back to 2014, the Big Ten has only filled this tie-in five times. If the Sun Belt adds Ohio, a GameAbove Sports Bowl partnership would make sense.
Not only is Ohio University nearby, but Marshall is a six-hour drive from Detroit while James Madison is nine hours. A tie-in with the GameAbove Sports Bowl would create a more attractive matchup than the one the bowl currently gets between a MAC team and a 6-6 Big Ten afterthought. Under this agreement, the bowl could get a matchup between conference champion participants.
Furthermore, the bowl provides the northern Sun Belt teams a rare opportunity to play in an NFL stadium. James Madison has played in an NFL stadium twice since 2000: once against USF at Raymond James Stadium in 2000 and against West Virginia in 2012 at NorthWest Stadium, home of the Washington Commanders. Marshall has three appearances in an NFL stadium since 2009, that year’s Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl, the 2018 Gasparilla Bowl at Raymond James Stadium, and the 2021 New Orleans Bowl.
The GameAbove Sports Bowl creates a unique, big game experience for fans outside the New Orleans Bowl. While the New Orleans Bowl caters to the league’s more southern members, the GameAbove Sports Bowl could be the equivalent for the Sun Belt’s northern half.
While the Sun Belt’s talks with Ohio are preliminary, they would mark a drastic change for the conference. As the conference would expand northward, it could improve its bowl destinations for schools like James Madison and Marshall.
