Here lies football mediocrity

As the college football season reaches the homestretch, the bowl picture is becoming clearer…and it’s not a pretty sight if you are the Independence Bowl.   The death rattles are becoming increasingly louder for the low level bowl that will be celebrating its 32nd installment this year.  There is a distinct possibility that the bowl’s Big 12 and SEC tie-ins will go unused this year.  Both the SEC and the Big 12 could potentially have 2 teams in the BCS, that, coupled with the fact that neither conference has an over abundance of additional bowl elligible teams, could leave the Indy Bowl staring a MAC/Sun Belt match-up square in the face.  The prospect of seeing Louisiana-Lafayette take on Akron doesn’t exactly scream full-to-capacity sell-out.

A less than marquis game could be the lesser of the Indy Bowl’s problems though.

At a point very soon the Indy Bowl may long for the days when they were sometimes effectionately known as the Weedeater Bowl, thanks to former title sponsor Poulan Weedeater.  Unfortunately, for the second time in 3 years, the bowl is having trouble finding a sponsor (and any combination of the aforementioned non-Big 12 and SEC match-up wont make the game a ratings winner, thus attractive to sponsors).   In the two years previous, the innocuoius oil company, PetroSun, was its title sponsor.  PetroSun was scheduled to be the sponsor this year, but financial issues, namely the fact that PetroSun never paid the Independence Bowl and the city of Shreveport had to bail out the bowl, will keep their name from getting anywhere near the game this year.  There had been rumors that Chesapeake Energy, who has recently been all warm and cuddly with Shreveport ever since one of the largest natural gas fields in the country was discovered under much of the city, would jump on board as the title sponsor, but sagging gas prices and CEO Aubrey McClendon’s recent financial problems have put the kiabosh on that. 

A similar set of circumstances existed in 2004, when the bowl, without a title sponsor, featured the not-so-compelling match-up of Iowa State and Miami-Ohio.  The vultures began to circle for the Bowl back then but a string of sponsor carried games featuring the likes of Alabama, Missouri, and Oklahoma State kept the reaper at bay.  The bowl may not be so fortunate this time around.

More at The Shreveport Times.