80 bowl spots to fill. 71 teams are currently eligible, 74 spots locked up (3 games this week feature 5-6 teams playing each other). Looks like at least a few bowl eligible schools will be left home this year.

Bowl Eligible Teams

AAC (6): Central Florida, Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis, South Florida, Temple
ACC (9): Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Miami, NC State, Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Virginia
Big 12 (5): Iowa State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, West Virginia
Big Ten (7): Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin
C-USA (6): Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, UAB
Independent (3): Army, BYU, Notre Dame
MAC (6): Buffalo, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan
Mountain West (6): Boise State, Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State
Pac-12 (7): Arizona State, Cal, Oregon, Stanford, Utah, Washington, Washington State
SEC (10): Alabama, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas A&M
Sun Belt (6): Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Georgia Southern, Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana Monroe, Troy



One Win Away

AAC (2): SMU, Tulane

SMU can reach six wins with a road win over two-win Tulsa.
Tulane hasn’t played in a bowl since 2013 but can become eligible with a home win over Navy.

ACC (2): Florida State, Wake Forest

Florida State can extend its bowl streak to 37 years by beating rival Florida. FSU hasn’t missed a bowl game since 1981.
Wake Forest needs a road win over Duke to be eligible for the third straight season.

Big 12 (3): Baylor, Kansas State, TCU, Texas Tech

Baylor and Texas Tech play each other with a bowl berth on the line.
Kansas State can extend its bowl streak to nine years with a win over Iowa State.
TCU needs a home win over Oklahoma State.

Big Ten (3): Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Purdue

Indiana and Purdue play for the Old Oaken Bucket and bowl eligibility.
After Saturday’s OT loss to Ohio State, Maryland needs a road win over Penn State.
Minnesota needs a road win over Wisconsin.

Conference USA (2): Florida Atlantic, Southern Mississippi

Lane Kiffin can bring FAU to another bowl by beating Charlotte at home.
Southern Miss, which will not play a 12th game, needs a road win over UTEP.

MAC (1): Miami (Ohio)

Miami hosts Ball State on Tuesday night. The RedHawks (5-6, 5-2 MAC) are still alive in the MAC East race, too.

Mountain West (1): Wyoming

Wyoming, which travels to New Mexico on Saturday, has never played in a bowl game three years in a row.

Pac-12 (3): Arizona, Colorado, USC

Arizona can clinch a bowl with a win over Arizona State in the Territorial Cup.
Colorado, losers of six straight, needs a road win over Cal.
USC (5-6) hosts No. 3 Notre Dame. The Trojans haven’t had a losing record since 2000.

SEC (1): Tennessee, Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt hosts rival Tennessee with bowl eligibility on the line.

Sun Belt (1): Coastal Carolina

This is the first season Coastal Carolina can play in a bowl as an FBS program. It needs a road win over South Alabama to become eligible.



In addition, Akron and Virginia Tech are both 2 wins away, but have games scheduled that were cancelled due to weather. They both need 2 wins to become eligible.

Thanks for the great analysis. EMU must win on Friday.

Not really much analysis on my part. I mostly just copy and pasted, but I thought it might be good for everyone to see where it stands on here. We need to win this week, and also root for a lot of the 1 win away schools to lose.

Thanks for this.

If we take care of business against an inferior opponent, we will be a virtual lock.

I wonder how many of the P5 schools would decline bids even if they become eligible? Thinking mostly of Florida State, who almost certainly just wants this season to end and suppress the memory.

Thanks for the work.

I do have a question is it 78 or 80 bowl teams? I was told 78 by EMU athletics. Is the 40th bowl the CFP championship game???????????

(11-20-2018 11:01 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Thanks for this.

If we take care of business against an inferior opponent, we will be a virtual lock.

I wonder how many of the P5 schools would decline bids even if they become eligible? Thinking mostly of Florida State, who almost certainly just wants this season to end and suppress the memory.

FSU has the nations longest bowl streak they want to keep intact.

BTW, I just checked the ACC and B1G. I believe Quick Lane will have two teams playing (bold prediction, Lol), but neither team will be from the ACC or B1G.

ACC and B1G don't have many qualifiers and have candidates for the CFP.

(11-20-2018 11:49 AM)emu steve Wrote:  BTW, I just checked the ACC and B1G. I believe Quick Lane will have two teams playing (bold prediction, Lol), but neither team will be from the ACC or B1G.

ACC and B1G don't have many qualifiers and have candidates for the CFP.

The Quick Lane is also a low payout game by ACC and B1G standards. I'm assuming this means it'll be the first game they give up to another conference.

(11-20-2018 11:46 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Thanks for the work.

I do have a question is it 78 or 80 bowl teams? I was told 78 by EMU athletics. Is the 40th bowl the CFP championship game???????????

Good question. I was only basing it off the yahoo sports article where I got the info from. That very well could be true, I will have to count up the actual bowl slots. If that is indeed the case, it makes it even more imperative to win this week.

(11-20-2018 12:38 PM)mshumaker Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 11:46 AM)emu steve Wrote:  Thanks for the work.

I do have a question is it 78 or 80 bowl teams? I was told 78 by EMU athletics. Is the 40th bowl the CFP championship game???????????

Good question. I was only basing it off the yahoo sports article where I got the info from. That very well could be true, I will have to count up the actual bowl slots. If that is indeed the case, it makes it even more imperative to win this week.

I counted. There are 39 bowls. 78 teams.

I'm not sure it is as dire for us as some would say.

Quick Lane is likely to have either 1 or 2 open slots. MAC has a secondary agreement with Quick Lane.

MAC almost assuredly picks up another bowl bid in Detroit.

That gives the MAC 6 bids and now 6 eligible.

If MIA wins and ends up 6 - 6, does anything think Quick Lane would pass up EMU for Miami????

(11-20-2018 12:42 PM)emu steve Wrote:  I'm not sure it is as dire for us as some would say.

Quick Lane is likely to have either 1 or 2 open slots. MAC has a secondary agreement with Quick Lane.

MAC almost assuredly picks up another bowl bid in Detroit.

That gives the MAC 6 bids and now 6 eligible.

If MIA wins and ends up 6 - 6, does anything think Quick Lane would pass up EMU for Miami????

I would think and hope not, but I would rather have a better record than them than risk it. We are looking at 74 teams that have basically already become bowl eligible (71 plus the 3 head to head) and 19 more who could potentially become eligible, I would rather have 7 wins on my resume rather than being in a big pile of 6-6 teams. Plus, it would lock us in to an above .500 record for the first time since 1995.

I think we now why the MAC seeks these secondary bowl agreements. The secondary bowl agreement with Quick Lane will get a MAC team in Detroit.

MAC will be guaranteed at least 6 bowls for 6 or 7 bowl eligible teams.

We have a secondary with the Boca Raton Bowl. Have no idea who fills that bowl.

(11-20-2018 12:42 PM)emu steve Wrote:  I'm not sure it is as dire for us as some would say.

Quick Lane is likely to have either 1 or 2 open slots. MAC has a secondary agreement with Quick Lane.

MAC almost assuredly picks up another bowl bid in Detroit.

That gives the MAC 6 bids and now 6 eligible.

If MIA wins and ends up 6 - 6, does anything think Quick Lane would pass up EMU for Miami????

There are still 21 teams with a chance to get eligible (95 total teams). Obviously many of those 21 will lose this weekend, but there are only 4 remaining spots so if 5 or more win then someone's gonna get snubbed. A 6-6 MAC team would likely be first on the chopping block. This is why I think it's important that EMU beats Kent.

(11-20-2018 12:57 PM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 12:42 PM)emu steve Wrote:  I'm not sure it is as dire for us as some would say.

Quick Lane is likely to have either 1 or 2 open slots. MAC has a secondary agreement with Quick Lane.

MAC almost assuredly picks up another bowl bid in Detroit.

That gives the MAC 6 bids and now 6 eligible.

If MIA wins and ends up 6 - 6, does anything think Quick Lane would pass up EMU for Miami????

There are still 21 teams with a chance to get eligible (95 total teams). Obviously many of those 21 will lose this weekend, but there are only 4 remaining spots so if 5 or more win then someone's gonna get snubbed. A 6-6 MAC team would likely be first on the chopping block. This is why I think it's important that EMU beats Kent.

Not really. We will have 6 TIE-INs. Those are contractual obligations.

The only way things get messy is if we have 7 bowl eligibles and someone gets left sitting home (e.g., Miami).

(11-20-2018 12:59 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 12:57 PM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 12:42 PM)emu steve Wrote:  I'm not sure it is as dire for us as some would say.

Quick Lane is likely to have either 1 or 2 open slots. MAC has a secondary agreement with Quick Lane.

MAC almost assuredly picks up another bowl bid in Detroit.

That gives the MAC 6 bids and now 6 eligible.

If MIA wins and ends up 6 - 6, does anything think Quick Lane would pass up EMU for Miami????

There are still 21 teams with a chance to get eligible (95 total teams). Obviously many of those 21 will lose this weekend, but there are only 4 remaining spots so if 5 or more win then someone's gonna get snubbed. A 6-6 MAC team would likely be first on the chopping block. This is why I think it's important that EMU beats Kent.

Not really. We will have 6 TIE-INs. Those are contractual obligations.

The only way things get messy is if we have 7 bowl eligibles and someone gets left sitting home (e.g., Miami).

I understand. I think its quite likely that Miami gets eligible. And you are correct, I cannot see the quick lane taking Miami over us. We are attractive because of the location. But so are Toledo and Western. Do we have that same attraction if its between us and Miami for the Camellia or Potato bowl? Not to mention the (VERY) outside chance that Akron ends up bowl eligible.

Incidentally, Miami is a 17 point favorite tonight against Ball State, with BSU QB Riley Neal listed as questionable (Backup QB Drew Plitt played pretty well last week in the win over WMU). Miami is still alive to win the east, so they are likely pretty motivated.

(11-20-2018 01:08 PM)mshumaker Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 12:59 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 12:57 PM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 12:42 PM)emu steve Wrote:  I'm not sure it is as dire for us as some would say.

Quick Lane is likely to have either 1 or 2 open slots. MAC has a secondary agreement with Quick Lane.

MAC almost assuredly picks up another bowl bid in Detroit.

That gives the MAC 6 bids and now 6 eligible.

If MIA wins and ends up 6 - 6, does anything think Quick Lane would pass up EMU for Miami????

There are still 21 teams with a chance to get eligible (95 total teams). Obviously many of those 21 will lose this weekend, but there are only 4 remaining spots so if 5 or more win then someone's gonna get snubbed. A 6-6 MAC team would likely be first on the chopping block. This is why I think it's important that EMU beats Kent.

Not really. We will have 6 TIE-INs. Those are contractual obligations.

The only way things get messy is if we have 7 bowl eligibles and someone gets left sitting home (e.g., Miami).

I understand. I think its quite likely that Miami gets eligible. And you are correct, I cannot see the quick lane taking Miami over us. We are attractive because of the location. But so are Toledo and Western. Do we have that same attraction if its between us and Miami for the Camellia or Potato bowl? Not to mention the (VERY) outside chance that Akron ends up bowl eligible.

Good, good, good points.

Maybe TOL gets Quick Lane and we have to compete with MIA for a southern bowl.

That said, I HOPE, HOPE, HOPE that the Quick Lane folks will be partial to us because we are local and it would be a good story.

Kick butt Friday and we can sleep well...

(11-20-2018 12:59 PM)emu steve Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 12:57 PM)TheWoodenNickle Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 12:42 PM)emu steve Wrote:  I'm not sure it is as dire for us as some would say.

Quick Lane is likely to have either 1 or 2 open slots. MAC has a secondary agreement with Quick Lane.

MAC almost assuredly picks up another bowl bid in Detroit.

That gives the MAC 6 bids and now 6 eligible.

If MIA wins and ends up 6 - 6, does anything think Quick Lane would pass up EMU for Miami????

There are still 21 teams with a chance to get eligible (95 total teams). Obviously many of those 21 will lose this weekend, but there are only 4 remaining spots so if 5 or more win then someone's gonna get snubbed. A 6-6 MAC team would likely be first on the chopping block. This is why I think it's important that EMU beats Kent.

Not really. We will have 6 TIE-INs. Those are contractual obligations.

The only way things get messy is if we have 7 bowl eligibles and someone gets left sitting home (e.g., Miami).

Steve, the MAC has 4 bowl tie ins plus a conditional for the Det bowl.

NIU beating WMU would be nice. Besides the fact I like seeing WMU lose this would allow EMU to finish a game above them with a win at Kent.

(11-20-2018 11:49 AM)fanfrompowellspub Wrote:  

(11-20-2018 11:01 AM)EagleSam Wrote:  Thanks for this.

If we take care of business against an inferior opponent, we will be a virtual lock.

I wonder how many of the P5 schools would decline bids even if they become eligible? Thinking mostly of Florida State, who almost certainly just wants this season to end and suppress the memory.

FSU has the nations longest bowl streak they want to keep intact.

FSU a 3.5 point dog at home to a much improved Florida team currently ranked 13th