Independence Bowl Gets Boost For 2020 Through Bowl Cancellation
The Independence Bowl just got a little boost for 2020 without even doing anything. Tonight, the Holiday Bowl has announced that they will not play a game this year in San Diego, California.
So how does the Independence Bowl benefit from that? Because the Holiday Bowl is one of the bowls who have an agreement with the Pac-12 Conference, which is the new conference partner of the Independence Bowl. So the ripple effects will reach Shreveport.
Because the conferences sort their bowl assignments in an order, the bowls at the top of their lists get their best teams. In the stack of bowl game agreements for the Pac-12, the Holiday Bowl was listed above the Independence Bowl (remember, it was just added). So when the Holiday Bowl removes themselves from the stack, the Independence Bowl moves up the chart. So technically this would line the Independence Bowl up to get a Pac-12 team with a better record.
We're not sure exactly what that means yet though, because the Pac-12 is just now warming up. Without the games being played yet, these teams haven't been building resumes. So we don't know if there's going to be a real distinct difference between the 3rd or 6th steam being sent to a bowl from the Pac-12 yet.
But no matter what the Pac-12 produces, this is good news for the Independence Bowl.