(11-30-2015 02:30 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Just guessing here:

Seems likely that they would use 5-7 teams first to fill their own conference's unused bowl slots if there are any. E.g., Nebraska is at the top of the APR list among 5-7 teams and will probably fill one of the Big Ten's bowl slots.

After that, they'll probably try and place 5-7 teams as close to home as possible because their fans won't want to travel far for a 5-7 team. There might also be some politicking from teams who don't want to be matched up against a 5-7 opponent, e.g., an 8-4 team might resent having a 5-7 bowl opponent, so the bowls might try to match remaining 5-7 teams against 6-6 opponents.

That's my understanding too. They allow how ever many 5-7 teams to go to bowls as they need before bowl invites go out and will along the normal bowl procedures after that. Nebraska will go to one of the lower tier Big Ten bowl slots, etc.