Cardinal's To Play Tulsa In GMAC Bowl

After a brilliant 2008 season by the Ball State Cardinals,the committee has awarded the team,the students,and the community of Muncie with a well-deserved trip to Alabama.Following speculation of either the Texas Bowl(which fellow MAC foe Western Michigan will play),The Motor City Bowl,The GMAC Bowl or the Humanitarian Bowl, the decision to play in the GMAC,was announced late Sunday afternoon.

The Ball State University football team will play the University of Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl.

Motor City Bowl Director Ken Hoffman said the Cardinals will play in the GMAC Bowl because it was the best matchup the Mid-American Conference could get for the No. 23 Cardinals.

"We feel we have a better matchup for Ball State in the GMAC Bowl," Hoffman said. "We get to play a 10-win team in Tulsa. We couldn't get a team like that here. It's in Ball State's best interest to play the best team we could match them with."

The GMAC Bowl is at 8 p.m. Jan. 6, 2009, in Mobile, Ala. It will be broadcast on ESPN and is the final bowl game before the National Championship Game.

The Motor City Bowl had the first selection of MAC teams but allowed Ball State to play in the GMAC Bowl to get its best game possible, Hoffman said. The Motor City Bowl selected Central Michigan University.

Tulsa is 10-3 and lost in the Conference USA Championship Game to East Carolina University 27-24 on Saturday.

"That [game] will be pretty special," Hoffman said of the teams who bring 22 wins into the game.

Tulsa's athletics director is Bubba Cunningham, a former Ball State athletics director who preceded current athletics director Tom Collins.