B1G adds to future bowl lineup

The Big Ten added a pair of Texas bowls to its 2014-19 lineup, giving the league a full grouping around the nation's perimeter.

The league extended its current deal with the Heart of Dallas Bowl and picked up the Armed Forces Bowl, Big Ten officials announced today. The league sends three teams to each bowl over a six-year period. Both bowls are based in the Dallas Metroplex: the Heart of Dallas Bowl is held at the old Cotton Bowl, while the Armed Forces Bowl is staged at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth.

The rotational agreement with the Texas bowls is the second non-annual relationship the Big Ten has secured. Also beginning in 2014, the Big Ten will alternate with the ACC at the Gator and Music City bowls, with the leagues sending a team to each bowl three times over a six-year period.

Last month Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany told reporters he planned to set up a tiered system for future bowl games to avoid sending schools to the same locations multiple years in a row. Wisconsin, for instance, traveled to a Florida bowl six years in a row. Nebraska played in the Holiday Bowl in 2009-10 and in the Capital One Bowl after the 2011-12 seasons. Iowa competed in the Insight Bowl in 2010 and 2011.

"It's not so much about the teams being in tiers as it is the bowls being in tiers," Delany said. "I'd say there's probably three tiers if we ended up with nine or 10 bowls."

The Big Ten extended long-term relationships with the Capital One and Outback bowls, which currently hold the first and second choices of Big  Ten teams following the Bowl Championship Series. That likely will be the case again after the College Football Playoff and the four major bowls that accompany the playoff.

The San Diego-based Holiday Bowl will join the Capital One and Outback as first-tier members. Delany wants variety for the schools and the bowls must select five different teams over a six-year period. The league will have final say over which teams go to which bowls.

The second tier appears comprised of the Pinstripe (New York), Kraft Fight Hunger (San Francisco) and Gator (Jacksonville)/Music City (Nashville) bowls. The final tier likely will include the new Detroit bowl and the Texas bowls.

The Big Ten also is guaranteed to play in the Rose Bowl eight times and the Orange Bowl three times over a 12-year period. The league will meet the ACC in the Orange, Pinstripe and Detroit bowls and the Pac-12 in the Rose, Holiday and Kraft Fight Hunger. The SEC expects to field opponents against the Big Ten in the Capital One, Outback, Gator and Music City bowls.

The Big Ten will face a Conference USA squad this year in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. Future opponents are undetermined for the Big Ten's Texas bowl match-ups.

Here's how the Big Ten's guaranteed bowl lineup shakes out for 2014-2019 (does not include playoff bowls):

• Rose vs. Pac-12 (8 times over 12 years)
• Orange vs. ACC (3 times over 12 years)
• Capital One vs. SEC (9 times over 12 years)
• Outback vs. SEC (every year)
• Holiday vs. Pac-12 (every year)
• Kraft Fight Hunger vs. Pac-12 (every year)
• Gator vs. SEC (3 times over 6 years)
• Music City vs. SEC (3 times over 6 years)
• Pinstripe vs. ACC (every year)
• Detroit vs. ACC (every year)
• Heart of Dallas vs. TBA (3 times over 6 years)
• Armed Forces vs. TBA (3 times over 6 years)