If the MAC gets a good match-up in Poinsettia, sure like to see us send one of our top teams out there.....if not NIU (hopefully BCS) or BSU, at least BG. Man, would love to see a BSU-Fresno match up.

(11-29-2013 11:34 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  If i were the Sun Belt i would place the SBC teams that are staying in the conference into the bowls over WKU. Let them sit at home.

But the conferences don't place the teams ~ the bowls pick the teams. Conference X #3 means the bowl gets the 3rd pick after two other bowls have gone first.

We did "place" schools last year, but that was by clever deal making, not by right. After all, bowls that are closely tied with a conference may be willing to make a deal. However, since the Pizza Eaters bowl swapped their first pick last year for a first pick this year, and this is their last year as the Pizza Eaters bowl, I reckon they really do get first pick, so:

First choice, Pizza Eaters
Second choice, GoDaddy
Third choice, Potato Eaters
Then at-large or secondary tie-ins from bowls that cannot fill their primary tie-in because of lack of bowl eligible schools.

(11-29-2013 09:40 PM)Max Power Wrote:  Primary tie in bowls get priority. LCPB, Godaddy and Potato in that order. Then the secondaries (Poinsettia and BBVA/BOB, but I don't know the order).

Are those secondary tie-ins confirmed? They would make sense. However, if Rutgers beats UConn & USF, its only the Beef Eaters that would need a secondary.

My guess would be:
Fiesta Bowl: NIU
Pizza Eaters: Ball State
GoDaddy: Bowling Green
Potato Eaters: Buffalo
Poinsettia: Toledo
Beef Eaters: OhioU
NCAA Football13 on XBox: CMU

Where the guesses came from:

Have to make a pick on the CCG to fill it in. I'll pencil in NIU.

That then pencils NIU in for the Fiesta Bowl.

I'm thinking the Pizza Eaters goes for record over proximity, and takes 10-2 (7-1) Ball State.

Then GoDaddy takes 9-4 (7-2) Bowling Green.

Given Toledo's finish and Buffalo's record, I'd say 8-4 Buffalo gets picked by the Potato Eaters.

That's when it gets interesting. Now the remaining pool of bowl eligible schools becomes:

7-5 (5-3) Toledo
7-5 (4-4) OhioU
6-6 (5-3) CMU

I'm picking UCF to beat SMU and Rutgers to beat UConn & USF, so I think Beef Eaters will need a back-up for their AAC pick, but BBV Compass will not need a back up (they would have needed an SEC back-up, except for the Ol' Miss upset by Miss. State, so Compass will be SEC/AAC). And obviously Army is ineligible, so Poinsettia needs a replacement.

If the MAC made a secondary tie-in agreement with both, Poinsettia as the bigger payout bowl would seem likely to go first, and I reckon Toledo is more attractive a pick to them than OhioU, so Toledo to Poinsettia, OhioU to the Beef Eaters in St. Pete.

I'm not picking CMU to go bowling, after the Miss State upset win. For CMU to have a better shot, there needs to be some results that remove bubble teams, instead of adding them.

(11-30-2013 01:04 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  If the MAC made a secondary tie-in agreement with both, Poinsettia as the bigger payout bowl would seem likely to go first, and I reckon Toledo is more attractive a pick to them than OhioU, so Toledo to Poinsettia, OhioU to the Beef Eaters in St. Pete.

I'm not picking CMU to go bowling, after the Miss State upset win. For CMU to have a better shot, there needs to be some results that remove bubble teams, instead of adding them.

I think it will all come down to whichever of Ohio or CMU will sell more tickets (not much difference if its not Detroit) or maybe which school would guarantee the most tickets sold. It kind of feels like the last bowl slot is like the CBI in that regard.

(11-30-2013 01:04 AM)BruceMcF Wrote:  

(11-29-2013 11:34 PM)epasnoopy Wrote:  If i were the Sun Belt i would place the SBC teams that are staying in the conference into the bowls over WKU. Let them sit at home.

But the conferences don't place the teams ~ the bowls pick the teams. Conference X #3 means the bowl gets the 3rd pick after two other bowls have gone first.

We did "place" schools last year, but that was by clever deal making, not by right. After all, bowls that are closely tied with a conference may be willing to make a deal. However, since the Pizza Eaters bowl swapped their first pick last year for a first pick this year, and this is their last year as the Pizza Eaters bowl, I reckon they really do get first pick, so:

First choice, Pizza Eaters
Second choice, GoDaddy
Third choice, Potato Eaters
Then at-large or secondary tie-ins from bowls that cannot fill their primary tie-in because of lack of bowl eligible schools.

(11-29-2013 09:40 PM)Max Power Wrote:  Primary tie in bowls get priority. LCPB, Godaddy and Potato in that order. Then the secondaries (Poinsettia and BBVA/BOB, but I don't know the order).

Are those secondary tie-ins confirmed? They would make sense. However, if Rutgers beats UConn & USF, its only the Beef Eaters that would need a secondary.

My guess would be:
Fiesta Bowl: NIU
Pizza Eaters: Ball State
GoDaddy: Bowling Green
Potato Eaters: Buffalo
Poinsettia: Toledo
Beef Eaters: OhioU
NCAA Football13 on XBox: CMU

Where the guesses came from:

Have to make a pick on the CCG to fill it in. I'll pencil in NIU.

That then pencils NIU in for the Fiesta Bowl.

I'm thinking the Pizza Eaters goes for record over proximity, and takes 10-2 (7-1) Ball State.

Then GoDaddy takes 9-4 (7-2) Bowling Green.

Given Toledo's finish and Buffalo's record, I'd say 8-4 Buffalo gets picked by the Potato Eaters.

That's when it gets interesting. Now the remaining pool of bowl eligible schools becomes:

7-5 (5-3) Toledo
7-5 (4-4) OhioU
6-6 (5-3) CMU

I'm picking UCF to beat SMU and Rutgers to beat UConn & USF, so I think Beef Eaters will need a back-up for their AAC pick, but BBV Compass will not need a back up (they would have needed an SEC back-up, except for the Ol' Miss upset by Miss. State, so Compass will be SEC/AAC). And obviously Army is ineligible, so Poinsettia needs a replacement.

If the MAC made a secondary tie-in agreement with both, Poinsettia as the bigger payout bowl would seem likely to go first, and I reckon Toledo is more attractive a pick to them than OhioU, so Toledo to Poinsettia, OhioU to the Beef Eaters in St. Pete.

I'm not picking CMU to go bowling, after the Miss State upset win. For CMU to have a better shot, there needs to be some results that remove bubble teams, instead of adding them.

I like your analysis.

The MAC should have some very good matchups in our top bowls: NIU (vs. Okla. State), Ball State vs. maybe a BCS school (AAC? assuming as I've seen posted that the SBC backup agreement expired in 2012), I wish we could get BG in the Poinsettia vs. the loser of Fresno/Boise/Utah St. and maybe a good GoDaddy matchup.

That would be the best bowl season in MAC history...

BTW, might one of our teams meet SJSU in the potato bowl? wouldn't it be ironic if they lose to boot... :)

I've been thinking more about this...if the Poinsettia Bowl matchup really would be against a Boise State, Utah State or even Fresno State (man, how far would they have dropped to be in that bowl), then the MAC would not be doing itself any favors sending Toledo to San Diego against such an opponent. If San Diego State is the matchup in the Poinsettia, then by all means send the Rockets as the sacrificial "visiting" team--but this Toledo team is not in the kind of shape needed to play a good game against a good opponent. Give us the 3rd place Sun Belt team somewhere. I'm one of the very few who would prefer that we not even play a bowl game this season.

(11-30-2013 10:21 AM)bcunn3128 Wrote:  I've been thinking more about this...if the Poinsettia Bowl matchup really would be against a Boise State, Utah State or even Fresno State (man, how far would they have dropped to be in that bowl), then the MAC would not be doing itself any favors sending Toledo to San Diego against such an opponent.

The question is whether the MAC has any leverage to make a deal. We only got as many bowls as we did last year because of otherwise bowl-bound schools on NCAA probation & that Louisiana school turning down a bowl bid.

Like Eagle66 says, in the end its which team the bowl wants, not which team the MAC wishes to send, and with the Pizza Eaters having first pick of MAC schools and Ball State & Bowling Green to choose from, I don't see any reason they would dip down into the CMU / OhioU / Toledo tier in their last year under the present arrangement. CMU would be a proximity pick, but Bowling Green is both closer and more likely to have enthusiastic fans this year.

OTOH, its the conference who's on the phone with the bowls, so maybe they can work something out.