It's academic

Report: TCU to choose finals over GMAC Bowl bid

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Texas Christian might skip a bowl game this season in order to concentrate on final exams.

TCU officials have indicated they will decline a bid to the GMAC Bowl because it falls in the middle of the school's exam period, the Washington Post reported Thursday.

Because they are second in the Conference USA standings, the Horned Frogs are in line for an invitiation to the GMAC Bowl, but athletic director Eric Hyman said he can't do that to his players.

"I have to be sensitive to our young people," he told the newspaper. "They are student-athletes, but they are also students, and they are coming to school to get an education. We cannot disrupt their exams. It's not fair to them."

The game is scheduled for December 18 in Montgomery, Alabama. It is supposed to pit a Mid-American Conference foe against a team from Conference USA, and Miami of Ohio already has accepted a bid.

GMAC Bowl president Jerry Silverstein had planned to invite TCU before hearing of the school's conflict. But he still was optimisitc.

"I think [TCU] can do whatever they have to do to come down here," he told the Washington Post. "I would be absolutely shocked if they don't."

The GMAC Bowl has a seven-year deal with Conference USA. After TCU, its option could be Memphis, which is third in the league.

TCU was in line for a prestigious Bowl Championship Series bid before losing to Southern Mississippi, which can finish a perfect record in league play Saturday.

The Liberty Bowl invites the first-place team from Conference USA, but the Horned Frogs would be co-champion if Southern Mississippi loses at East Carolina. That could open TCU for a trip to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee on New Year's Eve.

The Horned Frogs also could end up in either the Hawaii Bowl on December 25 or Fort Worth Bowl on December 23. Both are tied to Conference USA and neither conflicts with TCU's exam schedule.

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