With the parity within leagues combined with precious few victories by non-BCS teams over the BCS, getting open bowl slots is going to be tough this year.
Here's who to root against in this weekend's games.
Indiana (vs. Ohio St)
Iowa (vs. Michigan)
Marshall (vs. UTEP)
Maryland (vs. Va Tech)
Navy (vs. Rice)
NC St (vs. Wake)
Northwestern (vs. Michigan St)
Rutgers (vs. UConn)
South Florida (vs. West Virginia)
Utah (vs. UNLV)
Vanderbilt (vs. South Carolina)
My "games to watch" <a href='http://www.ncaabbs.com/forums/mac/invision/index.php?act=ST&f=1&t=26298' target='_blank'> another thread</a> ...
Friday - SoMiss (4-2) @ UAB (3-3); where does UAB get the three wins it needs to become bowl-eligible?
Saturday
Louisville (4-2) @ Cincy (3-3); the Carebearcats can probably pencil in a win against Syracuse, but where do the other two wins come from - @ S. Fla., @ Rutgers, host West Virginia?
Michigan (4-3) @ Iowa (5-2); I'm sure Big Blue fans are ecstatic about Saturday's win (and they should be), but the Wolverines still need two wins to get eligible. A loss to Iowa means two wins are needed out of these games - @ N'western, home vs. Indiana, home vs. Ohio State. Not automatic by any means.
Oklahoma State (3-3) @ Iowa State (3-3); two bubble teams.
Wyoming (4-3) @ Colorado State (3-3); Rams could be done with a loss.
East Carolina (3-3) @ Memphis (3-3); the C-DOA parity party continues.
Vandy (4-3) @ SoCar (3-3); Vandy looked like a shoo-in early in the year, but this is almost a must-win. They can pencil in a victory over Kentucky, but need to beat the Gamecocks or be faced with needing a win against Florida or Tennessee. Gamecocks have those two powerhouses to contend with, as well as Clemson & Arkansas.
Arizona State (3-3) @ Stanford (3-2); two bubble teams
Tulane (2-3) @ UCF (3-3); the C-DOA parity party continues.
Kansas (3-3) @ Colorado (4-2); Jayhawk loss may drop them from bowl race.
Baylor (4-2) @ Oklahoma (3-3); Baylor has a tough road after this game and so do the Sooners. A loss for Oklahoma may start the "wait 'til next year" discussions in earnest.
New Mexico (4-3) @ San Diego State (3-4); not a must-win for New Mexico, but sure would make things a lot easier.
Wazzu (3-3) @ Cal (5-2); in addition to #25 Cal, Cougars have two other ranked teams ahead (USC & Oregon), in addition to Arizona State (at home).
I read an interesting post somewhere else that made a good point.
What MAC fans should focus on are teams from Conferences having contracts with Bowl Games in the Eastern part of the country.
These are the main teams and Conferences that we want to do poorly.
So, we should focus on teams from Conferences like the following:
The Big 10, ACC, SEC, Big East, C-USA, Sun Belt, and perhaps the Big 12.
As an example, Miami got an Independence Bowl invite last year. I know that NIU got an Silicon Valley Bowl invite, but in general I think it's much more likely that a MAC team would get an at large bid to a Bowl game located in the East.