Shreveport bowl looks for new name

The AdvoCare V100 Bowl was supposed to have a team from the ACC and the SEC face each other.
Blame it on Tennessee not winning enough or Auburn winning too many - but the bowl had to search elsewhere for its other opponent.
On paper, the battle between Arizona and Boston College was touted as a battle between the nation’s top two leading rushers.
Boston College’s Andre Williams won the Doak Walker Award this season, edging Arizona’s Ka’Deem Carey for the honor that’s given to the nation’s top running back.
Heading into the gsme, both earned a spot on the AP’s All-America first team. Williams had slightly better overall numbers, rushing for 2,102 yards and 17 touchdowns.
Carey finished the regular season with 1,716 yards and 17 touchdowns.
In the end it was Arizona’s offense that ruled the day as the Wildcats cruised to a 42-19 victory.
Arizona’s six touchdowns tied a bowl record, which has been accomplished seven times, the most recent prior occasion was Ohio in the 2012 AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl. The Wildcats set a bowl record with 28 first downs, while gaining 529 yard of total offense – the third-most in bowl history.
Carey had an outstanding day on the ground for Arizona (8-5), amassing 169 yards and two touchdowns.
The Wildcats senior quarterback, B.J. Denker, completed 17-of-24 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns, to go along with 51 yards rushing and another score.
Denker was named the Offensive Player of the Game.
Arizona’s freshman receiver Nate Phillips put on a record-setting performance, catching nine passes for 193 yards, setting a bowl record for most receiving yards in a game, besting the previous record of 191 set by Sidney Rice of South Carolina in 2005 against Missouri.
Williams was held to 75 yards on 26 carries and a fourth-quarter touchdown.
Last year, the AdvoCare people wanted just their name on the bowl, so Independence was pulled.
Then in August, the sponsors said they were leaving after the 2013 bowl - so I guess it is safe to say Shreveport has its Independence back as the town looks to continue the 11th oldest bowl game in college football.
The “What-ever it will be called Bowl” held at Independence Stadium will have the SEC-ACC tie-in through 2019 so hopefully a new sponsor will not be hard to find.
But the most interesting fact from Tuesday’s game was to see Northwestern State University’s band dressed in Arizona red sweatshirts.
The NSU band was hired to fill in for the Arizona band and they seemed excited to be there and participate. At least they were part of the winning team and played the Wildcat fight song a lot with 42 points scored.
The 2012 match-up between UL Monroe and Ohio had a reported 41,853 fans.
The announced attendance for the 2013 game was 36,917, but there were plenty of empty seats - perhaps because the two teams both had to travel more than 1,100 miles.
We will have to wait and see what happens this next football season with the new four-team playoffs set into motion, but the Shreveport bowl could still have a good draw if the right teams earn an invitation.