look, almost every in-depth article I read about bowl placement says that the Bowls want different teams. some of the bowls have it in writing that they must have 4 different teams over a 6-year period and so forth. the idea is that the teams' fan bases will be less likely to travel if they keep going back to the same location, but more likely to travel to a new location. and bowl committees want those fans coming to their communities to spend money.
but the bottom line - according to what I have read - is that the bowls and conferences work together to place teams - and they DO take into account whether a team has played in a certain bowl recently. so, as I understand it, if it comes down to a choice between, say, the Rate Bowl or the Mayo Bowl, the fact that the Gophers have played in the Rate Bowl recently, and have not played in the Mayo Bowl, will be taken into account.
