University of Houston Athletics
C-USA Announces Agreement With EV1.net Houston Bowl
11/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 15, 2005
IRVING, Texas - Conference USA Commissioner Britton Banowsky has announced that the league has entered into an agreement with the EV1.net Houston Bowl to be a part of that bowl for four years, beginning with the 2006 season. The announcement gives C-USA arrangements with six postseason bowl games beginning next season.
On September 27, the league announced that it had renewed commitments with all five of its current bowl partners, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, GMAC Bowl, Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl, New Orleans Bowl and the Fort Worth Bowl, beginning in 2006.
In this agreement, Conference USA is guaranteed to play in the EV1.net Houston Bowl at least one time in the four-year period and has the opportunity to make multiple appearances during that time. C-USA will face an opponent from the Big 12 Conference in the game.
"We are pleased to add another postseason opportunity to our other bowl relationships," said Banowsky said. "We have been involved with the Houston Bowl previously and are glad to be renewing our ties with it. We look forward to sending a C-USA team to play in the game on at least one occasion during this period."
Conference USA played in the first three Houston Bowls from 2000-02 (known the first two years as the galleryfurniture.com Bowl). East Carolina defeated Texas Tech at the legendary Astrodome in the bowl's inaugural contest in 2000, while Southern Miss was the last league school to play in the game, falling to Oklahoma State in 2002, the first year that the bowl was played at the state-of-the-art Reliant Stadium.
It is important to note that beginning in 2006, a Conference USA champion may qualify for the Bowl Championship Series if ranked in the final BCS Top 12 or, in the BCS Top 16 and ranked higher than a team which receives automatic qualification.
While Conference USA now has agreements in place with six bowls for future years, the league will continue to explore additional postseason opportunities for its teams.
