There are four new bowls scheduled to come into creation this year. The Big East it appears, will be involved in two of them.

The new bowls have to be first approved by the NCAA bowl certification committee. More important, concerned parties are waiting for the NCAA board of directors to define bowl eligibility in 2006.

The board almost has to set the standard at 6-6 when it hands down the decision on April 27. The last time a 12-game schedule existed in 2002 and 2003, at least four teams became bowl eligible each year because of the six-win standard.

The NCAA barely found enough bowl-eligible teams last year (it needed 56) during the 11-game regular season. If teams were required to finish above .500 — in other words 7-5 in a 12-game schedule in 2006 — it’s almost certain there wouldn’t be 64 bowl-eligible teams.

A look at the new bowls waiting to be certified:

The new BCS national championship game which debuts Jan. 8, 2007 in the new Glendale, Ariz. stadium. Approval is a slam dunk.

The Birmingham Bowl, to be played at Legion Field, where UAB struggles to attract fans. This newbie would match Conference USA against either a Big East or MAC rep. Can’t wait.

The New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque. Who cares who plays in it (Mountain West vs. WAC), this is what bowls are all about: a destination city where you can go from teeing off to snow skiing in 30 minutes.

International Bowl in Toronto. Nothing says college football like a match between Big East and MAC runners-up in Canada.

Not everyone is exactly enthused it seems. Dodd is right, though, that 6-6 will have to be where they set the bowl eligibility if they want to approve more bowls. There’s plenty of pressure from the BCS schools to do so anyways. They know they stand to benefit most with that kind of standard.