Pac-10 talking to Alamo Bowl about an affiliation

Bowl affiliations will almost surely change to some degree, and soon. Lots of contracts between bowls and conferences expire after this season.

Bud Withers of the Seattle Times reported today (click here for story) that the Pacific-10 Conference is in talks with the Alamo Bowl, which has been a matchup of Big Ten and Big 12 teams since 1995.

"We're determining the marketplace," said Alamo Bowl spokesman Rick Hill. "We're still talking to our current partners, but we want to investigate the landscape."

A story doesn't get this far unless there's some meat to it. I'm not sure why the Alamo Bowl would want to break from its Big Ten/Big 12 set-up given the proximity of the Big 12 and the track record of Big Ten fans to travel.

It's hard to fathom the Alamo Bowl cutting away from the Big 12 when Texas schools often provide the league's representative, and bring great gobs of fans to the game. If a change is made at the bowl, the Big Ten almost surely will be the conference bidding adios.

According to Withers' story, the Pac-10 is pondering alternating its Nos. 2 and 3 teams between the Holiday and Alamo bowls. But would an Oregon or California bring fans to San Antone like an Iowa or Wisconsin or Penn State or Michigan does?

Or is it a worthwhile tradeoff for the Alamo often getting a better team than it does from the Big Ten, which sends its No. 4 team (and sometimes No. 5) to the bowl?

You know the Big Ten isn't sitting back and waiting for bowls to make decisions. Changes are afoot. Some alliances with bowls are about to get stronger. Others are drawing to a close.

As long as the Motor City Bowl remains aligned with the Big Ten, though, all is right in the world.