
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 21, 1995                   TAG: 9509210079
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

BIG EAST, LIBERTY SIGN BOWL DEAL

The Big East Football Conference and the new Conference USA announced a multi-year agreement Wednesday for sending teams to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn.

This year's bowl on Dec.30 will feature teams from the Big East and the Liberty Bowl Alliance, a group of five independent schools formed last year.

Conference USA, which includes most of the schools in the alliance, will begin its Liberty Bowl participation in 1996, the first year the new league begins football competition.

Under a three-year agreement, the Liberty Bowl will select the fourth bowl team from the Big East. Conference USA will send its champion to Memphis, but because of its inclusion in the Liberty Bowl Alliance, non-member East Carolina could be chosen in 1996 or 1997 if it has a better overall record than any Conference USA team.

Bowl and conference officials have agreed to discuss an extension of the arrangement at the end of the three years.

The Liberty Bowl selection committee will decide which of the eligible Big East teams it wants.

The Big East comprises Boston College, Miami, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, Temple, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.

For football, Conference USA includes Memphis, Cincinnati, Houston, Louisville, Southern Mississippi and Tulane.

by CNB