Here we are, just about to have a bushel basket worth of at-large bowl bids ripe for the picking. And what happens?
AKRON can't stop Ohio in a shootout; now must win at Temple just to get to 6-6.
BOWLING GREEN collapses faster than the stock market against Buffalo. Now they must win at Toledo to reach 6-6.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS drops to 6-6 by getting shutout by Navy. The Huskies went up and down the field, but couldn't find the endzone.
If any of the preceding teams could have finished 7-5, they would have been all-but guaranteed they would be bowling.
Now NIU, and possibly Akron & BG, will be with the Sun Belt teams at the end of a long line of 6-6 teams attempting to back-door themselves into the postseason.
Okie Chippewa Wrote:Here we are, just about to have a bushel basket worth of at-large bowl bids ripe for the picking. And what happens?
AKRON can't stop Ohio in a shootout; now must win at Temple just to get to 6-6.
BOWLING GREEN collapses faster than the stock market against Buffalo. Now they must win at Toledo to reach 6-6.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS drops to 6-6 by getting shutout by Navy. The Huskies went up and down the field, but couldn't find the endzone.
If any of the preceding teams could have finished 7-5, they would have been all-but guaranteed they would be bowling.
Now NIU, and possibly Akron & BG, will be with the Sun Belt teams at the end of a long line of 6-6 teams attempting to back-door themselves into the postseason.
No bowls for any 6-6 MAC teams.
I don't know about the other teams on that list, but NIU doesn't deserve a bowl game. All our wins came against bad teams. I bet NIU would end up getting blown out if they did play in a bowl.
this is for the best. i was dreading the possibility of the MAC sending a couple of mediocre 7-5 teams to bowl games. they would have been embarrassed like BG last yr vs tulsa and NIU vs TCU in the Poinsettia. the mac is a 2-3 bowl league. we can't support more in terms of fans or caliber of team. let's work on gettin our best teams good bowl matchups and supporting them like we do the MCB. This isn't the NCAAs, getting a backdoor spot in the Texas or Birmingham or Alabama Alligator Jerky Bowl is not like bursting someone's bubble and squeezing out an at large bid, get over it, already.
NIUGAHuskie Wrote:I don't know about the other teams on that list, but NIU doesn't deserve a bowl game. All our wins came against bad teams. I bet NIU would end up getting blown out if they did play in a bowl.
We would have ended up playing some other bad Sun Belt or WAC school, not like we'd be going against another 10-win TCU.
pono Wrote:this is for the best. i was dreading the possibility of the MAC sending a couple of mediocre 7-5 teams to bowl games. they would have been embarrassed like BG last yr vs tulsa and NIU vs TCU in the Poinsettia. the mac is a 2-3 bowl league. we can't support more in terms of fans or caliber of team. let's work on gettin our best teams good bowl matchups and supporting them like we do the MCB. This isn't the NCAAs, getting a backdoor spot in the Texas or Birmingham or Alabama Alligator Jerky Bowl is not like bursting someone's bubble and squeezing out an at large bid, get over it, already.
BG probably played CUSA's best team. I hope no MAC teams gets pitted against Tulsa this year in the GMAC. That offense can score on anyone.
Besides, why should the MAC's 7-5 teams sit at home while CUSA sends their bad 6-6 teams and the WAC sends their 7-5 teams? Our teams could easily beat theirs. The four MAC teams going bowling this year deserve it.
Okie Chippewa Wrote:Here we are, just about to have a bushel basket worth of at-large bowl bids ripe for the picking. And what happens?
AKRON can't stop Ohio in a shootout; now must win at Temple just to get to 6-6.
BOWLING GREEN collapses faster than the stock market against Buffalo. Now they must win at Toledo to reach 6-6.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS drops to 6-6 by getting shutout by Navy. The Huskies went up and down the field, but couldn't find the endzone.
If any of the preceding teams could have finished 7-5, they would have been all-but guaranteed they would be bowling.
Now NIU, and possibly Akron & BG, will be with the Sun Belt teams at the end of a long line of 6-6 teams attempting to back-door themselves into the postseason.
I think our chances are very low(since most of the bowls are in the south). While I hope for the players sake they can go but I am not sure we really deserve one. Heck, I hate this because this loss means we are WORSE than ND.
No ILL still has shot at Haw & NO bowls
Bowl games give teams practice time and help recruiting. Take a long term approach...the MAC wants as many bowl games as possible.
More bowl games = more money for the MAC. There's a huge difference between $2 million and $5 million. It gives the teams more time to practice, which is the most important benefit of all, but also the most overlooked.
uakronkid Wrote:More bowl games = more money for the MAC. There's a huge difference between $2 million and $5 million. It gives the teams more time to practice, which is the most important benefit of all, but also the most overlooked.
Most teams lose money on bowl games. Especially, for the 750,000-1 mill payout bowls the MAC can get. You have team costs, travel and hotel costs (up to a whole week) AD costs, support staff, cheerleaders, band, etc... Last yr Hawai`i made the Sugar Bowl out of the WAC and barely broke even after conf payouts, team costs, etc...
The extra practice time and recruiting edge from making a bowl game might be legit arguments.
The fact that mediocre WAC or CUSA teams get into some generally overlooked bowl games is no real logic for us squeezing in our middle of the pack teams into the bowl field. Very few of these teams deserve it. Half of those 6-6, 7-5 BCS bowl teams shouldn't be there either. back when there were less bowl games it was a bigger deal and crowds and hype were better. A third of the bowls are just TV filler deals now.
i will admit if my rockets were 7-5 I'd be rooting for them to find a way into the bowl picture. I just think once you step back and consider everything we don't really want our 4-6 best teams bowling unless we have just an insanely good yr for the league overall.