DALLAS – Conference USA has announced the league’s bowl lineup that will span the six-year cycle from 2020-25.  The conference is guaranteed seven bowl appearances in each year of the new cycle.

“We are very pleased with our future bowl lineup,” said C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod. “Our teams will continue to have postseason opportunities in outstanding destinations that are very accessible to our schools and their fans.  We are also excited to have additional flexibility to create great matchups.”

As part of the new bowl cycle, C-USA will annually send teams to the Bahamas Bowl against a Mid-American Conference opponent, and to the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl, against a Sun Belt Conference school.  The league has participated in all six Bahamas Bowls and has placed a team in the New Orleans Bowl 14 times in its first 18 years.

As previously announced, the league will continue its relationship with the Independence Bowl.  C-USA is guaranteed to send a team to the Shreveport, Louisiana-based bowl in 2021 and 2025 while holding a secondary agreement with the bowl in the other years of the cycle.

C-USA will also continue its long-standing relationship with the Hawai’i Bowl.  The league is set to participate in the Honolulu-based game in 2020, 2022, and 2024.

The conference’s remaining guaranteed selections in the cycle (either 4 or 5 per season) will include the LendingTree Bowl (Mobile, Alabama) and the following games which are owned and operated by ESPN Events:

1. Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas)
2. TicketSmarter Birmingham Bowl (Birmingham, Alabama)
3. Boca Raton Bowl (Boca Raton, Florida)
4. Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, Alabama)
5. Cure Bowl (Orlando, Florida)
6. Fenway Bowl (Boston, Massachusetts)
7. SERVPRO First Responder Bowl (Dallas, Texas)
8. Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl (Frisco, Texas)
9. Gasparilla Bowl (Tampa, Florida)
10. Myrtle Beach Bowl (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina)
11. New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque, New Mexico)

“We are excited about extending our relationship with Conference USA,” said Pete Derzis, ESPN senior vice president of programming and ESPN Events. “We look forward to continuing to feature the conference’s top programs, student-athletes, coaches, and fans in our bowl games across ESPN’s networks.”

C-USA’s 25th football season is scheduled to begin on Saturday, August 29.  The league’s 16th annual football championship game is scheduled for Saturday, December 5.

NEW ORLEANS – The Sun Belt Conference has solidified its football postseason opportunities for the next six seasons with five bowl tie-ins beginning with the 2020 season.

The conference's new postseason lineup includes placement in three ESPN Events owned-and-operated bowl games and participation in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl and the LendingTree Bowl on an annual basis. 

"We are coming off of our most successful season in Sun Belt history," said Sun Belt Commissioner Keith Gill. "We're excited to provide a flex model that allows for our fans and schools to go to desirable locations with exciting opponents that are easily accessible and provides more revenue than the previous bowl cycle."

ESPN Events will hold the first, third and fourth selections and will utilize a flex model to select teams into the following pool of games:

• Boca Raton Bowl (Boca Raton, FL)
• Camellia Bowl (Montgomery, AL)
• Cure Bowl (Orlando, FL)
• Famous Idaho Potato Bowl (Boise, ID)
• SERVPRO First Responder Bowl (Dallas, TX)
• Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl (Frisco, TX)
• Myrtle Beach Bowl (Myrtle Beach, SC)
• New Mexico Bowl (Albuquerque, NM)

The New Orleans Bowl will hold the second selection and the LendingTree Bowl will hold the fifth selection.

In addition to the league's five bowl tie-ins, the Sun Belt champion has access annually to the New Year's Six bowls, managed by the College Football Playoff, should the champion be selected as one of the top four teams overall by the CFP selection committee or ranked by the committee as the top champion among the Group of Five conference champions. The Sun Belt champion is determined by a matchup of the East Division and West Division champions squaring off at the home site of the divisional champion with the best overall conference winning percentage.

The Sun Belt enters the 2020 season with the best bowl winning percentage (.667, 14-7) among all 10 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision conferences over the last four seasons (2016-19). Last season, the league finished with a .600 bowl winning percentage, earning three wins in its five postseason matchups, to finish second to the Southeastern Conference (8-2, .800) and first among the Group of Five conferences.

With 25 non-conference wins (regular season and postseason) in 2019, the Sun Belt reset its all-time high set just a season prior. The conference recorded four wins against Autonomy Five conference opponents – Georgia State defeated Tennessee, Coastal Carolina defeated Kansas and Appalachian State defeated South Carolina and North Carolina – in the same season for the first time in conference history, including firsts for Georgia State and Coastal Carolina. Appalachian State became the first in conference history to achieve two wins against Autonomy Five schools in the same season.

Sun Belt champion Appalachian State headlined a historic 2019 season with the conference's first in-season CFP Ranking and capped its season ranked in the final CFP Rankings (20th) and the final Top 25 of both national polls – 19th in the final Associated Press Top 25 and 18th in the final Amway Coaches powered by USA Today Sports Top 25. West Division champion Louisiana was among the teams receiving votes in both final Top 25 polls, putting a stamp on its milestone season. The Ragin' Cajuns recorded a school-record 11 wins, a second-straight Sun Belt West Division title and their first bowl win outside of the state of Louisiana since 1944.

GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina and Old Dominion, two programs separated by only 120 miles which share a brief but competitive history, have agreed to a six-game home-and-home football series beginning in 2022 according to a joint announcement by both institutions Wednesday.

The Pirates and Monarchs will meet at ECU's Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium on Sept. 10, 2022 and again in 2029 and 2031, while squaring off at ODU's S.B. Ballard Stadium during the 2024, 2027 and 2030 seasons.

The two teams have played on three prior occasions - twice in Greenville and once in Norfolk - with East Carolina owning an early 3-0 edge.

Former quarterback Shane Carden passed for a then-school-record 447 yards to lift ECU to a 52-38 win in the series opener in 2013 in front of 44,597 fans at Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. The last two matchups were decided by a combined five points as Jake Verity delivered a game-winning 38-yard field goal for a 37-35 victory in 2018 before the Pirates' defense held off the Monarchs in a 24-21 battle at Ballard Stadium last fall.

East Carolina is an American Athletic Conference member under the direction of second-year head coach Mike Houston. Old Dominion, which hired Ricky Rahne as its new coach Dec. 9, competes in Conference USA.

ODU will join other regional opponents NC State (Sept. 3) and Campbell (Sept. 24) on ECU's 2022 non-conference schedule, while becoming the Pirates' second announced non-league road foe for the 2024 season (at Charlotte/Aug. 31).

Game times, ticket information and broadcast plans will be released as those playing dates near.


EAST CAROLINA-OLD DOMINION SERIES
Sept. 10, 2022 – Greenville, N.C.
Sept. 7, 2024 – Norfolk, Va.
Sept. 18, 2027 – Norfolk, Va.
Sept. 15, 2029 – Greenville, N.C.
Sept. 14, 2030 – Norfolk, Va.
Sept. 20, 2031 – Greenville, N.C.