For the first time in 44 years, the Independence Bowl will not be played in Shreveport on Saturday. The I-Bowl could not find an opponent for Army who accepted a bid to play in the bowl game. I-Bowl spokesperson Erik Evenson says it’s crushing that this annual holiday tradition can not happen this year.
“It’s been a tough year, we were really hoping to bring this game to the city of Shreveport for a 45th straight year and really, really disappointing that it didn’t happen,” said Evenson.
Army was set to play a school from the Pac-12, but Evenson says five teams from that league decided not to play in a bowl game this season, reducing their options.
“Really what it came down to is that the Pac-12 had two schools available to play in bowls and we were fourth in the lineup,” said Evenson.
Evenson says they tried to find a school outside of the Pac-12 to play Army, but no luck.
“There was just shortage of teams in college football to play in bowl games and most of the conferences we call didn’t have any extra teams, they filled their primary spots with other bowls,” said Evenson.
Fans who purchased tickets, can request a re-fund or roll over the purchase to next year’s game. BYU is set to play in next year’s game against a school from Conference USA.
16 bowl games have been canceled as 22 teams have decided not to play ina bowl game.
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