I'll make this a very quick note. Just talked to may sources and the chances of the MAC landing a third bowl bid after this weekend is now highly unlikely. Very sad.
With New Mexico and BYU likely to get bowl eligble at 6-6, the Seattle Bowl, which is looking hard at Boise State, will likley get a MWC team. That means the Humanitarian Bowl will keep the Broncos and play a Big 12 team, which will have more than enough teams to supply for their bowl alotment.
The WAC will likely have three bowl teams now that Fresno St has finally taken off. They should finish 7-6.
C-USA will most likely have two teams at .500, thus filling out their five bowl committment. Yuk!
The Big Ten needs Purdue to beat Indiana this weekend for the MCB to take them to play the MAC West team going there. USF is the fall back team. Also, if the Big 10 places two teams in BCS bowls (Iowa & Ohio St), then Purdue goes to their #6 place (either the Sun Bowl or the some other crap bowl), then USF goes to Detroit.
All other conferences (Big East, ACC, etc.) will have enough teams to fill out their bowl committments.
For the MAC, Miami's black eye in Huntington threw out any chance they had at a possible bowl bid as did BG's late season fall off. This weekend's MAC attendance for all games added together was around 35K. A huge YUK which bowl scouts are commenting on.
MCB: NIU or Toledo vs. Purdue or USF
GMAC: Marshall vs. So Miss or Lo'ville
That's it folks.
Nick
Vandelay Wrote:The Big Ten needs Purdue to beat Indiana this weekend for the MCB to take them to play the MAC West team going there. USF is the fall back team. Also, if the Big 10 places two teams in BCS bowls (Iowa & Ohio St), then Purdue goes to their #6 place (either the Sun Bowl or the some other crap bowl), then USF goes to Detroit.
For the MAC, Miami's black eye in Huntington threw out any chance they had at a possible bowl bid as did BG's late season fall off. This weekend's MAC attendance for all games added together was around 35K. A huge YUK which bowl scouts are commenting on.
MCB: NIU or Toledo vs. Purdue or USF
GMAC: Marshall vs. So Miss or Lo'ville
That's it folks.
Nick
* If USF goes to Detroit, this obviously poses two problems:
1. How many Tampa residents are going to book flights to Detroit in late December? How well will South Florida arouse local interest? Ugh.
2. 2 of the 3 most likely candidates for the MCB are NIU and BGSU (with Toledo also a possibility), giving the possibility of a rematch from the regular season. Double ugh. I really hope it's Purdue.
* You didn't include BGSU in your list of possibilities for the MCB. They aren't officially eliminated yet, are they?
* Looking from a "sportsmanship" angle, the MU-MU game was a black eye. Looking from a network/advertising angle, the incident is a ratings goldmine. Whether we like it or not, I would almost assume that the soap opera controversy would actually be a "plus" to the bowl organizers.
[quote="Vandelay"]C-USA will most likely have two teams at .500, thus filling out their five bowl committment.
How long will MAC fans continue to delude themselves into believing that bowls have anything at all to do with the quality of the teams? IT'S ABOUT THE MONEY
Let me make you president or CEO of a minor bowl. There are two teams from which you can pick. Team "A" had a so-so season and finished 7-5 with no quality wins. They averaged 35,000 in attendance. Team "B" had a very good season and finished 10-2 but their two losses came near the end and their attendance in their last two games was under 10,000. Which team do you take? Hell, that's a no-brainer. You take the team whose fans will fill up the hotels and spend money in the restaurants. Unless and until the MAC does something about its attendance woes, we will continue to get snubbed come bowl time.
No bowl is going to match two teams from the same conference so the MCB is either Purdue or USF. Period. My guess is that USF brings about 5,000 given the fact that they haven't been to a bowl in, ummmmmm, I can't recall them ever being in a bowl. The novelty will bring fans.
As for Marshall, I'm hoping for Southern Miss.
Welcome back, Nick. Your comments pretty much "mirror" mine below.......having New Mexico beat BYU and Purdue beating MSU pretty much killed things for the MAC, plus the unlikely series of events necessary to have C-USA not fill out its last bowl slot is mathematically very unlikely.
From all the promise of a few weeks back (with BG riding high) we're now looking at a miserable match-up in the MCB..........probably a re-match game with a school from the plains of Illinois vs. a school from Florida in Detroit. They'll be lucky to get 20K to that game, and then well have to endure even more crowing from the Herd contingent since they'll get a good match-up at the GMAC (which should easily sell out that game).
Yuk and double yuk. Can you imagine having So. Florida in a MAC bowl game........how much worse can it get??????
<!--EDIT|exCincy Kid|Nov 18 2002, 03:02 PM-->
eCK, maybe you could help things out by bringing 10 of your closest friends to Detroit to help fill it in, rather than complaining about how few people are going to be there! I'd much rather see Purdue there, for sure.
Sorry Dan, but I won't be going to see the likes of USF in Detroit over my holiday break.............BTW, I'm "lamenting" on the situation, not complaining. I want this bowl to be as successful as possible so we can keep it in the "MAC fold". So, unless my team is in the bowl I just root for the best possible scenario for the conference, not any particular MAC team. But I'm more worried about our opponent vs. our host team.
I'm kind of hoping that something happens along the same lines as Okie pointed out. Not necessarily WVU vs. Marshall. But it would seem logical to trade out USF to a more-southerly bowl (and there's a million of them out there), and pick up someone a bit closer to home. Easier said than done, I guess.
I understand not wanting to come in from Chicago over your break to see USF. It doesn't exactly fire me up either, especially if it is a NIU-USF or BG-NIU rematch. But living so close, it's not like I'm investing a whole weekend to see it. So I'll go down there regardless who takes the field.
This is one of those times I wish Ford Field was an open-air stadium. USF can take care of business in their sub-tropical backyard, but I'd like to see how they'd do in the frozen tundra. :D
Motown, USF is just like a MAC school to bowl promoters, and in some regards worse as they have no identity and have been playing IA ball for only a few years now. Unfortunately, I can't see how they'll be ANY takers for USF in terms of a swap-out bowl situation, 'cause nobody will want 'em anymore than we do. It's a worse case scenario for the MCB!
The only way the MAC will get 3 bowl teams is when/if Marshall isn't in the MACC game. And that still is not guaranteed because the MAC's #2 bowl could still choose the HERD over the MACC runner up.
Take this year for example........Had Marshall lost to Miami. Miami hosts the MACC against let's say NIU.
Miami beats NIU and is guaranteed to the MCB(mcb has 1st pick). Now remember, the GMAC and MCB usually pick their teams before the MACC is played. So Miami is going to GMAC. NIU is going to MCB. And if there was an open slot left in any bowl, they would invite Marshall. But then again, the GMAC could still invite HERD and force MCB to take Miami the MAC champ. Leaving NIU at home.
I agree. The attendance is just dreadful. And that will always be the reason why the MAC does not get any extra bowls.
Maybe if a 3rd bowl was made in Indianapolis.
Whatever happened to that bowl game idea????????
Motown Bronco Wrote:* You didn't include BGSU in your list of possibilities for the MCB. They aren't officially eliminated yet, are they?
BG could still tie NIU for the west title, but they are mathematically out of the MAC Championship game.
Please explain to me how BG is out of MACC.
If Toledo beats NIU and when BG beats Toledo that will leave NIU and BG at 7-1.
BG lost to NIU but beat Toledo who beat NIU and BG would have better overall record and better points against east division teams.
I don't know the tie breaker system this year. If you know please share it.
I believe that the first tiebreaker in the MAC (and, indeed, in every tiebreaking system I have ever seen) is the head-to-head result.
bgnormals Wrote:Please explain to me how BG is out of MACC.
If Toledo beats NIU and when BG beats Toledo that will leave NIU and BG at 7-1.
BG lost to NIU but beat Toledo who beat NIU and BG would have better overall record and better points against east division teams.
I don't know the tie breaker system this year. If you know please share it.
Using your scenario, Toledo would be 6-2 in the MAC. Therefore the tie-breaker is between just NIU and BG. Head-to-head give it to NIU. If it was Possible to have Toledo, NIU, and BG all 7-1....then you would have a point. That all went out the door when Toledo lost to Miami though.
I think it is in the MAC's best interests (and MY best interests :D ) for UT to go the the MCB. Last year, we must have brought about 20K fans! We had more than twice as many fans as UC. Regardless of who the opponent is, I think UT fans would pack the MCB better than any other team. Also, UT has not faced USF, so you won't get a boring rematch. All neutral MAC fans should root for UT to win out for these reasons.
As far as getting Purdue, remember that only 5 Big 11 teams have qualified. Wisky can lose their last game against Minni and stay at home. I am pretty sure that even IF Wisky and Purdue both win and qualify, OSU and Iowa will be in BCS bowls. The only way Purdue goes to Detroit is if OSU loses and Wisky and Purdue both win. I've give that about a 5% chance. :(
In the FWIW category, CNN's Mandel just put his latest bowl projections out, but they're kind of goofy since he based them only on teams that are currently have a .500 record or better, hence he left out teams like Purdue who are 5-6 but will likely end up 6-6. Anyway, in this scenario he had 3 MAC teams bowling, Marshall and NIU plus BG in the Music City Bowl. Actually, if Purdue wins but Wisconsin loses (and OSU beat Michigan), it is possible that the Music City Bowl might be open for somebody.
If the Music City bowl was open, I would hope the MAC champion would go there. The payout of the bowl is larger I think and has the most prestige of any bowl a MAC team will play in since we know they will play an SEC team(unlike MCB). And if I remember correctly its on New Years Eve. This just seems like the game the MAC would showcase their best team.
Except the MotorCB has dibs on the best MAC team. Not the school's call in that case. If we were to have a team so attractive that Nashville wants them--Detroit would want them first. And then who wants the 3rd best MAC team--because GMAC gets 2nd pick? I this season, it doesn't look like we will have an desireable 3rd team to the bowls that might need someone.