Things look great for NIU. God bless the thugs at South Carolina & Clemnson.
There are currently 54 teams that are Bowl Eligible. There is a potential that a total of 9 more teams that could become eligible by seasons end (though, technically only could fill 7 spots since the TCU/Tulane & Northwestern/Hawaii loser is out):
Here are the teams to cheer against for our/MAC purposes:
Need 1 win:
Nebraska ( vs. Colorado) - Neb 3 point favorites, FRI
Syracuse ( @ Boston College) - Syracuse 10.5 dogs, SAT
Arkansas ( vs. LSU) - Arkansas 3.5 dogs, FRI
Northsuckern ( @ Hawaii) - Fairy Purple 5 point favorites, SAT
Southern Miss ( vs. UAB, vs. CAL) - Southern Miss 1 point favorite, SAT
TCU (Tulane) - TCU 12 point favorite, SAT
Need 2 wins:
Hawaii ( vs. Northsuckern, vs. Michigan State) - Team Rainbow 5 point dogs this week, SAT
Tulane ( @ TCU, Amry) - Tulane 12 point dogs this week, SAT
South Florida ( Memphis, Pitt) - 3.5 point dogs this week, SAT
Going off the theory that Vegas knows best, none of the teams needing 2 wins would make it and 4 of the 6 teams needing 1 win would become bowl eligible. That would mean a total of 58 teams are bowl eligible (54+4). The three at large teams least likely to get a bid would be Akron, Troy, and Marshall. It would appear that Akron and Troy would be the only Div. I teams eligible not going to a Bowl. I'm sure Chryst would try to get Akron in there, however, we will see how successful he is. Either way, it looks like there will for sure be 4/5 MAC teams going to a bowl game if everything goes as expected. If everything doesn't go as expected, it is techically possible there won't be enough bowl eligible teams. That would be funny. I'm sure Southern Illinois could fit a game in following their playoff :)
NOTE: This didn't address Iowa State potentially being 6-6 after the Big 12 Championship game. I would like to hear what would happen in that case.......
Looked into the Iowa State issue, looks like they would be safe Bowl wise:
Big 12 Media Relations
The Big 12 has received a waiver for its North Division champion to participate in a bowl game if its record is 6-6 after playing in the Conference Championship Game.
The waiver was granted for this season only by the NCAA Administrative Review Subcommittee (ARS) as a condition of allowing the Conference to fill one of its contractual bowl commitments.
The ARS granted the waiver on the recommendations of the Division I Football Issues Committee and the Postseason Football Licensing Subcommittee.
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Here's a list of Bowl the MAC teams are being projected to be in by CNNSI, ESPN, CBSSportsline and CFN...
GMAC, MCB, Vegas, Silicon Valley, Houston, MPC (Boise), Independence (Shreveport), Ft Worth and Hawaii
Sure I should have updated my last one but oh well...
Bowl Payouts (from last year):
$750,000 - GMAC, MCB, SVB(San Jose), MCB(Boise), Ft Worth and Hawaii
$800,000 - Las Vegas
$1,100,000 - Houston
$1,200,000 - Independence (Shreveport)
If we go to the Hawaii Bowl, how do I convice my wife to let me go? :D
With Clemson & SC going out, the MAC Office may have some major pull on where all of these teams go.
It is going to be very interesting to see how everything works out. I would think that after this weekend, the pressure is going to be on the bowls to get who they want. Respectfully, it'd be a bit difficult to promote a game where Akron/Troy is playing.
I realize I won't get any sympathy, but I'm going to Hawaii in January. Going in December also is out of the question.
Just out of curiosity...
When do we think the bowls will begin making at-large selections? Wednesday? After Saturdays games? Any input???
I am thinking that many of these bowls will wait until after Saturday and see how those games shake out as who know what might happen.
It may be a dog fight especially if a couple teams like Nebraska loss in order to avoid the bottom of the barrel for some of these bowls.
That is why they may go before Saturday. IF BG wins many bowls may want them, Toledo wins, many bowls may want us and BG before Troy. I dunno. I am just keeping my fingers crossed this all pans out.
mrfdog558 Wrote:That is why they may go before Saturday. IF BG wins many bowls may want them, Toledo wins, many bowls may want us and BG before Troy. I dunno. I am just keeping my fingers crossed this all pans out.
We go from having a record of 10-2 last year, begging to get a bowl and shotdown. Now we might have all these bowls fighting over us and this year we have a worse record, crazy but I like it. Still bitter about last year but this year should make up for it.
ive been following the changes on the espn bowl projection page all day (im a teacher on break....what am i supposed to be doing....grading?) and they are now including everyone in the mix in their selections....one of those talking heads has Miami in the MCB against Troy.....ewwwwwwwwww
One telling thing though is that all of them have changed their prediction for GMAC....they ALL now have BUGS there. (Do they know something?
With it becoming more and more of a possibility that there might not be enough bowl eligible teams (or just 1 or 2 over the amount needed), bowls may start extending invitations sooner than this weekend, so they can lock in an 8-3 MAC team instead of having to scramble and invite a 6-5 non BCS team as a last resort.
I'm hoping that our fate will be decided once the outcome of tomorrow's BG/UT game is resolved. I'm guessing that the East and West winners will be split between the GMAC and MCB. If we end up being an at-large bid, it would be interesting to be a fly in the wall on the wheeling and dealing that will go on to fill out the bowls. As dawgsgowild noted on another thread, all the talk of the MAC signing today with the Silicon Bowl has gone quiet.
As much as it pains me, I'll actually be rooting for NU to become eligible. I want a Big Ten team in the MCB, and NU getting eligible ensures that.
I would love to play the Buckeyes
Me too, but, as of this morning, the Buckeyes are headed to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl.
houstonhuskie Wrote:ive been following the changes on the espn bowl projection page all day (im a teacher on break....what am i supposed to be doing....grading?) and they are now including everyone in the mix in their selections....one of those talking heads has Miami in the MCB against Troy.....ewwwwwwwwww
One telling thing though is that all of them have changed their prediction for GMAC....they ALL now have BUGS there. (Do they know something?
I beleive the GMAC gets first pick-- they could pick BGSU as the most desireable MAC team (they are the highest ranked at the moment).
I think NIU just needs to go somehwere for the experience and the money and the exposure. Any bowl will fill that parameter.
The the next thing to loook at is 1) which will get us the most money this year, AND 2) at which one can our fans make the best showing so that we get invited back in THE FUTURE? Also, the way the payouts are split with other conference members factors in.
Hope some one real smart is considering all the rammifications.
chihuskie Wrote:houstonhuskie Wrote:ive been following the changes on the espn bowl projection page all day (im a teacher on break....what am i supposed to be doing....grading?) and they are now including everyone in the mix in their selections....one of those talking heads has Miami in the MCB against Troy.....ewwwwwwwwww
One telling thing though is that all of them have changed their prediction for GMAC....they ALL now have BUGS there. (Do they know something?
I beleive the GMAC gets first pick-- they could pick BGSU as the most desireable MAC team (they are the highest ranked at the moment).
I think NIU just needs to go somehwere for the experience and the money and the exposure. Any bowl will fill that parameter.
The the next thing to loook at is 1) which will get us the most money this year, AND 2) at which one can our fans make the best showing so that we get invited back in THE FUTURE? Also, the way the payouts are split with other conference members factors in.
Hope some one real smart is considering all the rammifications.
GMAC does have the first choice. I've heard they might want us right away if BG loses tonight. If they win, who knows?
Keep in mind that we do have the best attendance in the MAC and have been travelling pretty well - the Alabama folks have to remember that we brought a pretty good crowd.
A real good question amid the possibility of four or five MAC teams getting bowl bids is Can each school afford to go to a bowl? Obviously each school has to guarantee a minimum amount of tickets to sell. Any shortage is deducted from the bowl payout.
The ticket guarantees for Detriot and Mobile are shared among the conference.
Will these bowls, desperate for a participant, waive the ticket guarantee? Because Bowling Green isn't selling 5,000 tickets to a bowl in San Jose. A $200K deduction from a $375 payout may not leave enough to pay for the trip.