Ron Higgins: Liberty Bowl loves Rebs
Nov 08, 2012 (Menafn - The Commercial Appeal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --There has been a ritual at almost every Ole Miss home football game this season, and even at selected road sites.
Just before first-year Rebels coach Hugh Freeze starts his postgame news conference, he usually shakes hands with AutoZone Liberty Bowl executive director Steve Ehrhart and associate executive director Harold Graeter, or one or the other.
"Do you know Ole Miss hasn't played in our game since 1992?" said Ehrhart, who has had the Rebels at the top of his invitation list from day one for this year's 54th Liberty Bowl on Dec. 31 at 2:30 p.m. "Archie Manning reminds me all the time that Ole Miss is 4-0 in the Liberty Bowl."
Four weeks from this Sunday, Dec. 2, the Southeastern Conference will work to fill what could be as many as 11 bowl spots. The league has contracts with 10 bowls, including a BCS bowl, but that doesn't include the BCS national championship game that an SEC team has won for six straight seasons.
The AutoZone Liberty Bowl shares the eighth/ninth pick of SEC teams with the BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham. Should No. 1 Alabama stay undefeated and play in the BCS national title game on Jan. 7 outside of Fort Lauderdale, it means the Liberty Bowl would share the ninth/10th SEC choice. The SEC usually plays the Conference USA champ.
Seven SEC teams are bowl eligible with six wins or more: Alabama (9-0), Georgia (8-1), Florida (8-1), LSU (7-2), Texas A&M (7-2), South Carolina (7-2) and Mississippi State (7-2).
Needing another win are Ole Miss (5-4) and Vanderbilt (5-4), which play each other Saturday in Oxford in what appears to be a Liberty Bowl play-in game. The Rebels and Commodores are a combined 5-6 in league play.
And in another possible Liberty Bowl qualifier in Knoxville, SEC newbie Missouri (4-5) plays Tennessee (4-5), with the Tigers and Vols a combined 1-10 in the SEC.
In the last six years when the Liberty Bowl has been under contract to the SEC, six different league teams have participated -- four from the Eastern Division (Vanderbilt, Georgia, Kentucky and South Carolina) and two from the Western Division (Arkansas and Mississippi State).
Almost every year, the Liberty Bowl has gotten the available SEC team it has wanted. It hasn't had a repeat team, though there have been five teams in Liberty Bowl history that have made at least two consecutive postseason trips to Memphis.
With that in mind, Ehrhart knows it's a real possibility that Vandy could play here for a second straight year after losing in last year's 53rd Liberty Bowl to Big East co-champion Cincinnati.
"Sometimes having a team play in our bowl two consecutive years isn't a bad thing, because all their fans that came here last year have told their friends what a good time they had in Memphis," Ehrhart said. "I don't want to shut the door on Vandy."
Ehrhart also deems the Mizzou-Tennessee battle in Neyland Stadium a key. Missouri hasn't played in the Liberty Bowl since losing to Purdue 28-25 in 1980 and Tennessee's last Liberty Bowl appearance was a 21-14 victory over Minnesota in 1986.
Back in early June at the SEC spring business meetings, Ehrhart made sure to rub elbows with Missouri athletic director Mike Alden, a past acquaintance.
"I think Missouri would be great in our bowl," Ehrhart said. "It's an easy drive south to Memphis from Missouri."
But it ultimately comes down to Ole Miss. If the Rebels become bowl eligible for the first time since 2009 with a win over the Commodores on Saturday, and don't play their way any further up the SEC bowl chain, Ehrhart has his storylines in place.
"Hugh Freeze comes home to where he was a high school coach (Briarcrest) and it has been 20 years since Ole Miss has been in our bowl," Ehrhart said. "It would be terrific."
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