Monday Musings: Miami is NOT in the South; is the geographic distribution of NY6 games equitable?

Happy Monday, which means it’s time for another trek deep into the recesses of my brain for more Miami-related tidbits...

1) If there is one thing that I know, it’s that MIAMI IS NOT IN THE SOUTH. It is SOUTH of the South. At least in the cultural sense.

Some know-it-all from Michigan the other day was chirping on Twitter about how it’s unfair how the New Year’s Six bowl games are located too conveniently in the South for SEC/southern schools. I pointed out that Miami isn’t in the South, and he argued with me like a fool. The further south you go on 95 in Florida, you eventually start to get more north. Once you’re into Palm Beach County, you cross an invisible border OUT of the south. Anyone who has spent more than 5 minutes in south Florida knows this.

2) Anyways, the long winded point is that Miami/the Orange Bowl does NOT provide an advantage for southern schools like this particular complainer (and several others) were whining about. The distance from the campuses of most SEC and ACC schools is relatively negligible from those of B1G, Big 12, Notre Dame, and many other schools - at least in the context of total flight time. Only Gainesville, Florida is within a reasonable driving distance of south Florida out of all the SEC campuses.

3) In fact, there really are only two of the NY6 games in the South – the Sugar and Peach Bowls. The rest are pretty well spread out across the nation. The Rose Bowl is on the west coast. The Fiesta is in the southwest. The Cotton is in Dallas, basically in the middle of the country. The Sugar is in New Orleans. The Peach is in Atlanta, several hours further east. And the Orange is in Miami, several more hours southeast.

4) It’s actually a REALLY good distribution of games geographically that doesn’t particularly favor one area over another. Sure, I guess having two games in purely southern areas like New Orleans and Atlanta might be seen by non-southerners as a slight advantage, but you’re talking about a HUGE geographical area that compromises the south. From Arkansas over and up to Kentucky and down to north Florida. Buddy, that’s a massive area, so really claiming two of six bowl games in these areas is NO type of real advantage. Not to mention most of the SEC And ACC schools are geographically located in southern states. Ergo, two NY6 bowls in southern states is not at all unfair.

Now, if Miami could just knock the door down and get to one of these bowls this year…