Things could be shaping up for the Big 10 to fill that spot.
Sparty down 21-13 at half. Purdue wins they are 1 closer to bowl eligible with Indiana still on the schedule. Sparty loses and you have 1 less team with a BCS opportunity.
Indiana hanging with Penn St. If they pull that one out then they would also sit at 5 wins.
Then you root for Iowa this afternoon. If they win plus the Purdue upset holds then you have Wisconsin to the Rose Bowl and that's it for the BCS chances of the Big Ten. Then you only need 1 of 3, Ill, Ind and Pur to find a way to 6 wins.
NIU vs. Big Ten in Detroit is a dream scenario!
Ohio State could still get in as a 2 loss team, but yes all those would help the chances to fill Detroit. As much as I hate to do it, I'll be rooting hard for the Illini today.
Big Ten Bowl Games:
Rose Bowl
Additional BCS Bowl (maybe)
Capital One Bowl
Outback Bowl
Gator Bowl
Insight Bowl
Texas Bowl
TicketCity Bowl
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl
Big Ten Bowl Eligible:
9-1 Michigan State
9-1 Ohio State
9-1 Wisconsin
7-3 Iowa
7-3 Michigan
7-3 Northwestern
6-4 Penn State
5-5 Illinois (needs to beat either Northwestern or Fresno St next week)
4-6 Purdue (beat Michigan St today and Indiana next week)
4-6 Indiana (beat Penn St today and Purdue next week)
Would you guys really want to play Purdue??? They have alrerady lost to Toledo, it just seems lame for the MAC champ to play a not so great Purdue team.
I think the question is whether we'd like to play Purdue or UL-Monroe....at least the way it's currently setting up...and then it's an easy decision.
obviously, most teams would always rather play someone where they can make a statement, but for NIU or Toledo, anytime you can play a big ten opponenent and have a decent chance of beating them, is good.
(11-20-2010 02:33 PM)utpotts Wrote: [ -> ]Would you guys really want to play Purdue??? They have alrerady lost to Toledo, it just seems lame for the MAC champ to play a not so great Purdue team.
Better than Louisiana-Monroe.
(11-20-2010 02:33 PM)utpotts Wrote: [ -> ]Would you guys really want to play Purdue??? They have alrerady lost to Toledo, it just seems lame for the MAC champ to play a not so great Purdue team.
No. But as said as it is it'd be better than ULM.
(11-20-2010 02:33 PM)utpotts Wrote: [ -> ]Would you guys really want to play Purdue??? They have alrerady lost to Toledo, it just seems lame for the MAC champ to play a not so great Purdue team.
Sh!t yeah. I'd take a Big Ten opponent in a bowl game anytime, regardless if they're 6-6.
(11-20-2010 02:33 PM)utpotts Wrote: [ -> ]Would you guys really want to play Purdue??? They have alrerady lost to Toledo, it just seems lame for the MAC champ to play a not so great Purdue team.
Yes.
Beating Purdue two years in a row and beating two Big Ten tems in one season would be OK with me. Better than Louisiana Monroe
It's also conceivable that a Big East team could end up in Detroit. If Notre Dame ends up at 7-5, they go into the Big East bowl selection pool, and that would bump a Big East team out of their primary bowls and looking for an alternate home. This, of course, assumes the Big East gets 6 eligible teams, which they should.
(11-20-2010 03:27 PM)niubrad00 Wrote: [ -> ]It's also conceivable that a Big East team could end up in Detroit. If Notre Dame ends up at 7-5, they go into the Big East bowl selection pool, and that would bump a Big East team out of their primary bowls and looking for an alternate home. This, of course, assumes the Big East gets 6 eligible teams, which they should.
No Big East teams please! The Big East sucks so bad this year. Purdue would be fine with me too, the matchup I really want though is a ranked Nevada team to play a ranked NIU team. That would be my dream matchup.
(11-20-2010 11:21 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote: [ -> ]No Big East teams please! The Big East sucks so bad this year. Purdue would be fine with me too, the matchup I really want though is a ranked Nevada team to play a ranked NIU team. That would be my dream matchup.
Purdue can't make it, they lost their 7th game of the season today. The Big Ten bowl teams are set.
Also, Nevada-NIU would be a ton of fun. Lots of points.
(11-20-2010 11:23 PM)UIHuskie Wrote: [ -> ] (11-20-2010 11:21 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote: [ -> ]No Big East teams please! The Big East sucks so bad this year. Purdue would be fine with me too, the matchup I really want though is a ranked Nevada team to play a ranked NIU team. That would be my dream matchup.
Purdue can't make it, they lost their 7th game of the season today. The Big Ten bowl teams are set.
Also, Nevada-NIU would be a ton of fun. Lots of points.
Oh yeah I forgot that was Purdue's 7th loss. Groth is still the AD at Nevada right? I've never been to a bowl game before, but if NIU played Nevada, I'd find a way to get there.
(11-20-2010 11:37 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote: [ -> ]Oh yeah I forgot that was Purdue's 7th loss. Groth is still the AD at Nevada right? I've never been to a bowl game before, but if NIU played Nevada, I'd find a way to get there.
Yep, she's still the AD out there. I caught some of the press conference when they announced their move to the MWC and she gave the speech along with their president.
I feel pretty confident that the Big 10 will put two teams in the BCS, leaving the LCB open for the Sun Belt. Florida Int'l and Troy are 5-5, and FIU has the tie-breaker to go to the New Orleans Bowl, meaning that Troy would head back to Mobile to play a MAC team in the GoDaddy bowl. ULM just needs to defeat ULL to finish 6-6 and make their way to Detroit. Best MAC affiliated bowl as far as match-up will likely be the Humanitaarian Bowl against a ranked Nevada team.
(11-20-2010 11:52 PM)niu79 Wrote: [ -> ]I feel pretty confident that the Big 10 will put two teams in the BCS, leaving the LCB open for the Sun Belt. Florida Int'l and Troy are 5-5, and FIU has the tie-breaker to go to the New Orleans Bowl, meaning that Troy would head back to Mobile to play a MAC team in the GoDaddy bowl. ULM just needs to defeat ULL to finish 6-6 and make their way to Detroit. Best MAC affiliated bowl as far as match-up will likely be the Humanitaarian Bowl against a ranked Nevada team.
If NIU wins the MAC championship game and ends up with a national ranking around 20, and ends up playing a nearly .500 Sun Belt team...well I hate to say this but I cant really justify the existence of the MAC anymore if that happens. The bigger problem is the bowl system itself, but if that does indeed happen I cant blame people for not attending MAC games. You fight all year to play a .500 SunBelt team, just not right.
We need a good matchup.
I really want to see what this team could do against a top 20 team.
(11-20-2010 11:52 PM)niu79 Wrote: [ -> ]I feel pretty confident that the Big 10 will put two teams in the BCS, leaving the LCB open for the Sun Belt. Florida Int'l and Troy are 5-5, and FIU has the tie-breaker to go to the New Orleans Bowl, meaning that Troy would head back to Mobile to play a MAC team in the GoDaddy bowl. ULM just needs to defeat ULL to finish 6-6 and make their way to Detroit. Best MAC affiliated bowl as far as match-up will likely be the Humanitaarian Bowl against a ranked Nevada team.
Sad but true. It's now highly likely that a 6-6 Sun Belt team will be in the LCB. We have to root for the Sun Belt to not have a 3rd bowl eligible team.
Yes, Boise and other at-large slots for MAC teams will have much better match ups. That's why I thought, and still do think, that the MAC will shop us around (assuming we win the MAC) to one of the at-large bowl openings that Toledo or Miami would otherwise take. Don't despair. I believe we still have a good chance to go to San Francisco, Vegas or even Albuquerque now.
I'm not at all thrilled by the prospect of playing a sun belt team, but lets not look a gift horse in the mouth. I'd argue the program benefits most from two things...1. A MAC championship and 2. A Bowl win. If we play a Sun Belt team, we're probably going to win that game. Sure, I'd love that bowl win to be against Nevada or West Virginia or Missouri, but we'd be just as likely to lose a game against any of those name programs.
Also, I'd advise everyone against feeling entitled because we have a solid team this year. I'm sure the South Florida and Louisiana Tech fans respectively were disappointed in drawing an NIU team that had no business being in a bowl the last two years...