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Texas Bowl's eyes are on the Irish
by JOSEPH DUARTE, STAFF , The Houston Chronicle
The Texas Bowl will be played Dec. 30 at Reliant Stadium.
With the Big 12 expected to place two teams in the Bowl Championship Series, the Texas Bowl is, for the second straight year, looking for an at-large replacement to match up against a team from Conference USA .
Rice (8-3), which plays Houston on Saturday, is considered the bowl's top C-USA choice.
Houston and TCU played in the Texas Bowl last season. The Cougars also are being considered this year, but a win this weekend puts them in the C-USA Championship Game with a shot at playing in the Liberty Bowl. Rice can advance to the C-USA title game only if it Marshall beats Tulsa and the Owls beat UH.
Notre Dame (6-5), an independent, has side agreements with the Gator and Sun bowls to be placed as a Big East team. The Big East currently has five seven-win teams for its six bowl slots, with Rutgers having the chance to become the sixth.
The Fighting Irish would not be eligible for the Gator or Sun with a loss to No. 5 Southern Cal on Saturday and a Rutgers win over Louisville. Under bowl rules, a 6-6 team cannot be picked over a 7-5 team. That would open the door for Notre Dame to make its first trip to Houston since it beat Rice 28-0 in 1973.
"They have a national - maybe even a worldwide - fan base, so I think it would get a lot of attention," Houston said.
Advance ticket sales for this year's Texas Bowl are approaching 50,000, ahead of last year's pace. The UH-TCU matchup wound up drawing 62,097 in paid attendance.
Texas BOWL
When/where: Dec. 30, Reliant Stadium.
Tickets: TicketMaster.com or call 832-667-2390 or go to the Reliant Stadium box office.
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