ESPN College Football

On Monday we introduced you to Three Downs & Punt, my top o' the week college football blog. Now we present the other half, Going Bowling, a pre-weekend look at all things related to bowl games. We'll peek at every angle, from which teams might be playing where to how bowl committees go about their business, from scouting teams to packing the player gift bags.

So drop your ride at Meineke Car Care, take a quick Holiday, grab some Chick-fil-A and a cup of Sugar and let's have a Fiesta as we seek Insight into the world of bowl games.

BYU: Breaking up an odd marriage

When BYU declared its independence this week, the Cougars athletic department brass seemed to have all its future bases covered, except for one.

First, what they pinned down: They secured an eight-year deal with ESPN that will televise all home games and create a larger footprint for the BYU TV channel, clearly a big improvement over the admittedly weak Mountain West TV deal. They ensured that their non-football sports were aligned with a conference, the West Coast Conference, and they also countered archrival Utah's big move to the Pac-10. They've clearly already started taking steps to fill out the eight conference games now missing, inking a long-term deal with fellow independent Notre Dame and admittedly working with Utah to keep the so-called Holy War game alive and well.

But as I watched the BYU announcement news conference one question kept churning around in my head: What bowl game do they plan on playing in?

For how BYU both faces a dilemma and a solution, and the biggest bowl-related game of the week (Michigan fans, look into it), you must be an ESPN Insider.