Liberty Bowl hopes to land Tennessee

photo Vandy's head coach Derek Mason, right, congratulates UT's head coach Butch Jones and tells him to represent the state of Tennessee well in his bowl game after the Volunteers won over the Commodores with a final sore of 24-17.

Bowl possibilities for TennesseeLIBERTY BOWLWhere: Memphis (Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium)When: Monday, Dec. 29 (2 p.m., ESPN)Payout: $1,437,500History: The Vols are 3-0 in the Liberty Bowl with wins in 1971 (14-13 vs. Arkansas), 1974 (7-3 vs. Maryland) and 1986 (21-14 vs. Minnesota). The Vols have played Memphis at the Liberty Bowl six times since, most recently in 2010.Projected possible opponent: West VirginiaTennessee's chances: Pretty strong. The Liberty Bowl has made it blatantly obvious it would like to host the Vols, and the Tennessee's administration also feels the same way about staying inside the state for the postseason. Tennessee certainly would sell tickets and help fill the 61,008-seat stadium, but so could Arkansas, which also went 6-6 with wins against LSU and Ole Miss. The Razorbacks have proximity and a fan base willing to travel on their side if the SEC chooses to go with them.BELK BOWLWhere: Charlotte, N.C. (Bank of America Stadium)When: Tuesday, Dec. 30 (6:30 p.m., ESPN)Payout: $1.7 millionHistory: This is the Belk Bowl's first year with an SEC tie-in, but Cincinnati beat Duke 48-34 in the 2012 game, which came weeks after Butch Jones left the Bearcats to become Tennessee's coach. Steve Stripling, the Vols' defensive line coach, was Cincinnati's interim coach.Projected possible opponents: Notre Dame, North Carolina State, DukeTennessee's chances: In play. In terms of proximity, only the Music City Bowl is closer to Knoxville than the Belk Bowl. The Vols are playing a neutral-site game in Charlotte a couple of seasons down the road, and Tennessee's staff have made recruiting inroads into North Carolina the past couple of years. Georgia and South Carolina appear to be the other targets for the bowl.MUSIC CITY BOWLWhere: Nashville (LP Field)When: Tuesday, Dec. 30 (2 p.m., ESPN)Payout: $2.75 millionHistory: In 2010, the last time the Vols went bowling, Tennessee memorably lost in double overtime to North Carolina in the game that prompted college football to adopt the 10-second run-off rule for late-game situations. The attendance that night was a bowl-record 69,143.Projected possible opponents: Louisville, Notre Dame, Duke, MiamiTennessee's chances: Unlikely. The Music City Bowl will end up with 9-3 Georgia or 8-4 Auburn or LSU instead of giving the Vols three straight midstate games. "We'd love to host every Tennessee game that we possibly can," president/CEO Scott Ramsey said, "but I think also we're respectful of what's best for the team and what's best for players in this particular year. They ended the season at Vanderbilt in Nashville this year, they open the season next year there -- it used to be against UAB, and we're looking for an opponent. Is three games in Nashville what they want to do? It might be; it might not be."BIRMINGHAM BOWLWhere: Birmingham, Ala. (Legion Field)When: Saturday, Jan. 3 (1 p.m., ESPN)Payout: $1.1 millionHistory: The Vols have never played in the Birmingham Bowl in its nine years of existence, but Tennessee played Alabama in Birmingham 41 times, most recently in 1997.Projected possible opponents: Cincinnati, Memphis, East CarolinaTennessee's chances: The dark horse, particularly if the SEC chooses not to slot Tennessee in one of the group of six bowls that include the Liberty, Belk and Music City. The Birmingham Bowl has the next pick after the league slots those six games, and it may be hard for them to pass up on the Vols given the proximity and potential ticket sales.INDEPENDENCE BOWLWhere: Shreveport, La. (Independence Stadium)When: Saturday, Dec. 27 (4 p.m., ESPN2)Payout: $1.2 millionHistory: Tennessee has never played in the Independence Bowl.Projected possible opponents: North Carolina, Virginia Tech, MiamiTennessee's chances: Very slim. The Independence Bowl will pick after every other SEC is off the board, and despite Tennessee's 6-6 record, it's hard to envision the Vols tumbling all the way to Shreveport given the potential ticket sales and revenue their fan base is capable of producing.

KNOXVILLE - It's been 28 years since Tennessee last played in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.

If it were up to Steve Erhart, the game's executive director, and his staff, that drought would end this year.

Instead, thanks to the SEC's new bowl system, the Liberty Bowl only can hope it ends up hosting the Volunteers for the first time since 1986.

"We have been pretty out front that Tennessee is a team we have great interest in," Liberty Bowl associate executive director Harold Graeter said Thursday night.

"For this year, our focus has been on the University of Tennessee," he added, "but we say that knowing that despite what our thoughts are, that at the end of the day the decision is not in our hands. It's up to the conference office to assess the bowl picture and to make that final decision as to what teams go to what bowl games."

For most of the bowls with SEC tie-ins, it's no longer a matter of one picking in a preset order, as long has been the case.

With the introduction of the College Football Playoff, the process is different, and it directly affects where Tennessee, which is bowl-eligible for the first time since 2010, will wind up when the pairings are announced today.

"It's certainly a different process," Music City Bowl president/CEO Scott Ramsey said Friday. "I think it's very positive, and I think it's going to be really beneficial in the long term to really do a better job with putting the right matchups in the right city in the right year.

"I think really the flexibility and the opportunity not to have a real rigid pecking order will, I think especially for the SEC, really give us a chance to have some fresh destinations for fan bases and hopefully really be positive on their matchups."

The CFP selection committee will slot the six biggest bowls, including the two semifinal matchups (the Sugar and Rose Bowls) in addition to the Orange, Cotton, Fiesta and Peach Bowls, based on its final rankings. Unlike in the BCS, there are no limits for how many teams from one conference can play in those games.

The Citrus Bowl in Orlando will get the first pick of the remaining SEC teams, and the conference then will slot teams into the Outback (Tampa, Fla.), Taxslayer (Jacksonville, Fla.), Music City (Nashville), Texas (Houston), Belk (Charlotte, N.C.) and Liberty (Memphis).

The Birmingham Bowl, followed by the Independence (Shreveport, La.), will pick from what's left of the SEC's 12 bowl-eligible teams.

"It's certainly a big change for us, but we think a positive change in the big picture," Graeter said. "In the previous arrangement we were near the bottom of the selection order. This removes that, so we're on equal footing with five other bowl games, and we think it certainly has enhanced our position within the SEC.

"You combine that with the new bowl opponent on the other side, which is now the Big 12, and we think that our situation with an SEC-Big 12 matchup is huge and a great benefit for us."

The six bowl games whose places the SEC will slot submitted their top three preferences, as did the schools.

The Vols easily topped the list for the Liberty Bowl, for fairly obvious reasons.

The university's medical, dental, pharmacy and nursing schools all are located in Memphis. There's also a very large alumni base in West Tennessee. It's a recruiting base for multiple Tennessee sports, and there's an interest, Graeter said, from Tennessee's side in making "inroads" into the Memphis business community.

Tennessee seems to be reciprocating the Liberty Bowl's interest. Butch Jones, Tennessee's second-year coach, and much of his staff were at Cincinnati when the Bearcats beat the Commodores in Memphis in 2011. One of those assistant coaches spoke with Ehrhart and another Liberty Bowl rep in the press box before Tennessee's 24-17 win in Nashville.

"What we can offer Tennessee and their fans, and what Memphis as a community means to the University of Tennessee," Graeter said, "those are all factors in this.

"The University of Tennessee," he added, "has a huge presence in the Memphis community, (and) there's a lot of reasons for the University of Tennessee to come here to play a football game that go beyond just athletics."

The Belk Bowl likely has Tennessee on its list, too, though executive director Will Webb declined an interview request this week through an administrative assistant.

If Tennessee somehow slides out of the pool of six, the Birmingham Bowl, whose staff did not return a call from the Times Free Press on Friday, may swipe up the Vols.

The expectation, though, is the Vols will end up in the Liberty Bowl, which sent representatives to five Tennessee games this season, including the bowl-clinching win at Vanderbilt last week.

"I think that tells you where we hope to be come Sunday," Graeter said, "but again, at the end of the day, it's not our decision, it's not the school's decision. It's the conference's decision, and we understand that. That's the new model, which we are proponents of. We're glad to be in the pool, and we'll see how things turn out on Sunday."

Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.

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