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According to the Buffalo News UB will be going to a Bowl game in either Saint Petersburg Florida or San Diego California
Word from MAC is no bowl announcements today. All signs are it'll be either San Diego or St. Pete's for Bulls
— Bob DiCesare (@tbndicesare) December 7, 2013
The Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego California is a reboot of a 1950's bowl game between different Military teams. The rebooted Poinsettia bowl rotates one of it's tie-in's between the FBS-Independent Army and Navy teams. The other tie-in currently sits with the Mountain West Conference which is home to the Air Force Academy. In the event that one of the Independents can't come through the Mid American Conference inherits that spot.
With this being Army's year, the Black Knights 3-8 record means the Mid American Conference will step up and send a replacement. In a few seasons the Bowl will become part of the "Group of Five" rotation and the MAC is a primary contract team in 2017 and 2019. So far the only MAC team ever to play in the game was Northern Illinois who were the recipient of a beating at the hands of Texas Christian back in 2006.
The Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl was set up between Conference USA and the Big East. With the dissolution of the Big East the bowl was taken over by the American Athletic Conference. Technically it's supposed to be between the sixth ranked team from the AAC and the fifth ranked team from conference USA. The AAC did not have enough teams to fill this bowl.
That means a backup will be taken from either the MAC or the Sun Belt. The Belt has two tie-ins and will have seven or eight teams that are eligible this season for a bowl game. But placing seven teams in an eight team conference into bowls has its costs. Parity does not make for sexy selections. If South Alabama wins this weekend the Belt will have two eight-win teams, one seven-win team, and four six-win teams. The MAC has at least two more attractive options in Buffalo and Toledo.
