Bowl Hierarchy Help

[starkvegasdawg]

I've been looking at all the latest bowl projections and was trying to remember what the new pecking order is. This is my best recollection. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Top Tier - College playoffs

Second Tier - Cotton, Orange, Fiesta, Peach <--- Is there any difference in these or are they all equal?

Third Tier - Everything else. <--- I do think I remember in this format that once you get past the second tier all the bowls are equal which would mean that the Capital One or Outback are now no more prestigious than the Birmingham Bowl.

So, how accurate is this?

[#660000]

The two Playoff bowls (in 2014, it's the Rose and Sugar) get the top four teams. The No. 1 seed gets a semblance of home-field advantage, going to the more geographically advantageous game.

After that, the remaining four New Year's bowls (this year, the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, and Peach) fill in according to the rest of the rankings -- with adjustments made for each bowl's conference ties.

When not a Playoff game...
The Rose gets the best Big Ten and Pac-12 teams.
The Sugar gets the same for the SEC and Big 12.
The Orange gets the ACC and the best team from among a specific cluster.
The Cotton, Fiesta, and Peach have no ties.

Last rule: the highest-ranked mid-major is guaranteed a spot in one of those last three bowls.
Oh, and all of this is decided by a selection committee.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2014/7/16/5909509/playoff-bowl-games-selection-new-years

[curmudgeon]

You are close.

As far as the SEC here is the order.

Tier I - The College Football Playoff. Payout: $25-45MM. Top 4 teams in nation, regardless of conference affiliation. Rotates between Sugar, Rose, Peach, Cotton, Orange and Fiesta.

Tier II - "The New Years Six." PayoutL $20 MM. The four bowls that aren't in the playoff a particular year. In 2014, that's Cotton, Orange, Fiesta and Peach. In years where Sugar is not a playoff game, the highest available SEC team goes to the Sugar. Other years, the Orange has a choice between the highest SEC team and Notre Dame, if ND is a top 12 team. In 2014, an SEC team will be in the Orange Bowl. All Conference Champions + the highest "Group of Five" champion is guaranteed a spot, along with the top 10 in the CFP Rankings.

Tier III - Citrus (vs. B1G). Payout $5 MM. The highest SEC team that does not make the Playoff or other New Years Six Games goes to the Citrus Bowl.

Tier IV - The SEC Group Bowls. Payout: $3 MM. Gator (vs. B1G), Music City (vs. ACC), Liberty (vs. Big 12), Houston (vs. Big 12), Belk (vs. ACC), Outback (vs. B1G). The SEC works to place available teams in these bowls. One is not higher than the other. Important that an 6-6 team cannot go over a 7-5 team.

Tier V - Birmingham. Payout $900k. If there is an available SEC team after all teams are placed in the Group Bowls. Then Birmingham can get an SEC team.

[Jack Lambert]

This year the top 4 go to the Rose and Sugar and the next four go to Orange or Fiesta. Next year the top 8 bowls will change.

[blacklistedbully]

Looks like the Gator & Outback take big prestige hits.

[starkvegasdawg]

So basically if you can't get citrus or above you ain't squat.

[curmudgeon]

I swore when all of this came out that I read that the SEC Championship Loser could not drop below the Citrus, but I can't find that in writing.

In a 2014 type year, you could have 2 in the Playoff, and 2 more in the Group of Six. 1 in the Citrus, 6 in the SEC Group and 1 in the Birmingham and still have one more SEC team needing a place to land.

In a bad SEC year, you could have 0 to the Playoff, Champion to the Group of Six, 1 to the Citrus, 6 in the SEC Group and 1 in Birmingham for 9 bowl eligible teams (the least the SEC will ever have)

[Mjoelner34]

You are close.

As far as the SEC here is the order.

Tier I - The College Football Playoff. Payout: $25-45MM. Top 4 teams in nation, regardless of conference affiliation. Rotates between Sugar, Rose, Peach, Cotton, Orange and Fiesta.

Tier II - "The New Years Six." PayoutL $20 MM. The four bowls that aren't in the playoff a particular year. In 2014, that's Cotton, Orange, Fiesta and Peach. In years where Sugar is not a playoff game, the highest available SEC team goes to the Sugar. Other years, the Orange has a choice between the highest SEC team and Notre Dame, if ND is a top 12 team. In 2014, an SEC team will be in the Orange Bowl. All Conference Champions + the highest "Group of Five" champion is guaranteed a spot, along with the top 10 in the CFP Rankings.

Tier III - Citrus (vs. B1G). Payout $5 MM. The highest SEC team that does not make the Playoff or other New Years Six Games goes to the Citrus Bowl.

Tier IV - The SEC Group Bowls. Payout: $3 MM. Gator (vs. B1G), Music City (vs. ACC), Liberty (vs. Big 12), Houston (vs. Big 12), Belk (vs. ACC), Outback (vs. B1G). The SEC works to place available teams in these bowls. One is not higher than the other. Important that an 6-6 team cannot go over a 7-5 team.

Tier V - Birmingham. Payout $900k. If there is an available SEC team after all teams are placed in the Group Bowls. Then Birmingham can get an SEC team.

While the Peach and Cotton are considered in the same tier as the Fiesta and Orange, their payouts sure don't reflect it according to this link:
http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/bowl_games_bowl_schedule.html

[1bigdawg]

While the Peach and Cotton are considered in the same tier as the Fiesta and Orange, their payouts sure don't reflect it according to this link:
http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/bowl_games_bowl_schedule.html

While the dates are accurate, I am pretty sure those payouts are from last year. Case in point, the Peach has a separate payout for the SEC and ACC which were last year's tie-ins. Neither of those conferences is in any way locked into the Peach this year.

[Political Hack]

So long as the West wins the SECCG, we should be no lower than 3rd in the league at this point, which would put us in the Citrus I think.

So, it's between Citrus, Orange, and Sugar/Rose. That's not a bad year regardless of how you look at it, but I think we're headed to the Sugar vs Bama.

[Mjoelner34]

While the dates are accurate, I am pretty sure those payouts are from last year. Case in point, the Peach has a separate payout for the SEC and ACC which were last year's tie-ins. Neither of those conferences is in any way locked into the Peach this year.

I went back and found this little nugget at the very bottom of the article: Most of the above payouts are based on actual figures from the Football Bowl Association for the 2013-2014 season, while others are published estimates of anticipated payouts for the current year.