Gator Bowl no great get for Big Ten

It isn't set in stone, but the Big Ten's bowl lineup for 2010 and beyond appears to be this:

1. Rose/BCS, 2. Capital One, 3. Outback, 4/5 (alternating) Gator and Insight, 6. Texas, 7. Motor City.

Bravo on upgrading the Insight. Phoenix is a fine bowl site, and it's a game against a Big 12 team.

Bravo on adding the Texas. Houston's Reliant Stadium is world-class.

Bravo on keeping the Motor City, or the Little Caesars Pizza Pizza Bowl if a rumored name-change happens. If the conference can't continue to support Detroit in these awful times for the state of Michigan, it has the soul of Rick Pitino.

No bravos for the Gator Bowl, even though it's a New Year's game.

It's in Jacksonville, Fla. It isn't especially warm there on Jan. 1, with an average temperature of 55. There isn't particularly much to do there, not compared to San Diego or San Antonio, the latter having ditched the Big Ten for the Pac-10 via its Alamo Bowl.

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S., geographically. But for tourists, it's a lot of highway, and not much else. I was there for a few days of Jacksonville Jaguars training camp once, and never did figure out where the heart of the city was. When it had its one (and only) Super Bowl, the biggest general complaint was this:

There's nothing to do there. It's a Double-A city with a Double-A baseball team.

But given that the Alamo decided to dump the Big Ten for Pac-10 teams that will bring dozens of fans, the Big Ten probably did the best it could under the circumstances. Having four teams in New Year's games isn't exactly chopped grouper.

The best scenario for you Big Ten people is for your favorite team to win a bunch of games and rise above the Gator Bowl. It's advice you may want to pass along to your teams' coaches.