I am going to speculate that it might because The University of Washington is in the far northwest part of the country and the cost of traveling to Houston for the game may be a bigger burden for their fans than Alabama and Texas. Michigan has a much larger fan base to begin with.
I suspect if the will, those tickets will get sold pretty quickly.
Who in their right mind would follow a collegiate team beyond parents?...? seriously!
If they travel to Houston for the Cotton Bowl, I think we've identified the problem.
You are correct. Aside from the fact the SEC will play that next to the last season game in the Snowbelt, putting all the bowls in the South is benefical to a team that isn’t built for a cold weather conference.
Now, if they sent those bowl games to the Snow Belt their would probably be a home field advantage... and definitely a personnel advantage - you play the Snow Bowl in Green Bay, Buffalo, Ann Arbor or Seattle and make Canada part of the festivities with tourism packages, the people who live up North won’t mind.
The arguement is that people are Snow Birds vacationing in the South from the North in the Winter - but no one is giving folks down South a chance to experience the beauty of the North.
Does anyone think Georgia or Bama, or any SEC team for that matter would be favored up on the Great Lakes in an Open Stadium... Ah the Blue Collar Beer Bowl, sponsered by Joe Burrow and Old Milwaukee Beer.