TCU To Face Southern Miss In GMAC Mobile Alabama Bowl
11/21/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
CHICAGO (Nov. 21) - The three remaining bowl slots in Conference USA were filled as the GMAC Mobile Alabama Bowl selected Southern Miss, the galleryfurniture.com Bowl in Houston picked East Carolina, and the Motor City Bowl in Pontiac, Mich. chose Cincinnati, the bowls announced Nov. 21.
Louisville, the 2000 C-USA champions, were awarded the bid to the Nov. 29 AXA Liberty Bowl after Saturday's regular-season clinching win at Houston. The Cardinals will take a 9-2 overall mark to Memphis for the AXA Liberty Bowl, their third straight bowl appearance under head coach John L. Smith, to play No. 25 Colorado State, champions of the Mountain West Conference.
The GMAC Mobile Alabama Bowl selected Southern Miss (7-3, 4-2 in C-USA) to play against No. 13-ranked TCU (9-1) on December 20. TCU will become a member of Conference USA next season.
The Golden Eagles conclude the regular season on Friday at home against East Carolina. Southern Miss, which spent the entire season ranked in the Top 25, fell out of the polls to No. 27 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Top 25 after a 27-24 loss at Cincinnati last weekend.
East Carolina, 6-4 overall and 4-2 in league play, was invited to represent C-USA in the inaugural galleryfurniture.com Bowl on December 27 at the Astrodome in Houston against a team from the Big 12 Conference. The Pirates will be making their second straight bowl appearance and fifth in the last nine years. ECU finishes its regular season on Friday at Southern Miss.
The Motor City Bowl in Pontiac, Mich. selected Cincinnati (7-4, 5-2) to participate in its December 27 game at the Pontiac Silverdome. The Bearcats, who won their last four games to grab a share of second place in Conference USA, will play with champion of the Mid-American Conference, which will be either Western Michigan or Marshall. UC won the Humanitarian Bowl championship in 1997.
Conference USA's two other bowl eligible teams are UAB (7-4) and Tulane (6-5). C-USA had six of its nine football members earn bowl eligibility status this season, which ties the league for fourth with the Big Ten and ACC among the Division I-A conferences. The SEC has eight, followed by the Big 12 and the MAC with seven.
