Pick 3 bowl games

Suits not suites... Damn edumaction

I'd buy this for a dollar: NIU in the Chicago bowl against 6-6 Maryland

None of them

I picked Mobile (they do a good job down there, and it implies a MAC title), Detroit (love getting shots against the P5, especially under a roof), and the Bahamas (which sounds like a fun trip; my bias is I've never been there).

Last one out was your Boca Raton option, another good destination (bonus: your hypothetical 11-2 Florida International matchup).

I suppose if I was being very strict about which matchups would help BGSU the most, I would pick your hypothetical Chicago game over the Bahamas. I wasn't.

1 Boca Raton against 10-2 FAU
2 Wrigley against 6-6 Maryland
3 Motor City against 6-6 Syracuse
4 Mobile against 10-3 Troy
5 Arizona against 7-5 Nevada
6 Camellia against 9-4 Arkansas State
7 Potato against 7-5 Colorado State
8 Bahamas against 8-5 Southern Miss

1 Boca Raton against 11-2 FAU
2 Bahamas against 8-5 Southern Miss
3 Wrigley against 6-6 Maryland
4 Motor City against 6-6 Syracuse
5 Arizona against 7-5 Nevada
6 Potato against 7-5 Colorado State
7 Mobile against 10-3 Troy
8 Camellia against 9-4 Arkansas State

-The Alabama games against the SBC do nothing for us. They look small time and the MAC is at disadvantage playing a regional team that is highly motivated.

-Going out west isn't worth it at this point unless it is to play the MWC champion or the Hawaii bowl. It might make sense on a couple levels to ditch the MWC bowl arrangements all together. First is for the travel costs. The second reason is it hurts the MWC, arguably our competition for the 7th best football conference behind the AAC if they have close down bowl games.

-Detroit and Chicago are good because its in our backyard. If we ended up in the Chicago bowl vs. a 6-6 MWC team because both sides are open that is to our advantage versus playing out west. The idea of getting a boost playing P5 competition in those games I think is farfetched but its more about the regional advantage which is so tough to get in MAC country for a bowl game.

In the past the MAC was desperate so has done deals with the MWC and SBC that largely advantaged them instead of setting the terms. We might be able to change that because of how badly we are needed for the sake of playing a G5 conference from a different region than the South.

1 Mobile against 10-3 Troy --typically is for MAC champs; play a benchmark G5; OK payout
1.5 Boca Raton against 10-2 FAU --Location better than Mobile(easy to fly to), similar opponent, but not champs; OK payout
3 Detroit against 6-6 Syracuse --good location for travel/game; would be fun to beat P5 in Bowl; good payout
3 Chicago against 6-6 Maryland --good location for travel; bad location for game in Dec; fun opponent to beat; Payout?
4 Bahamas against 8-5 Southern Miss --fun location for game; decent opponent; poor payout but MAC helps make it up
6 Potato against 7-5 Colorado State --less fun location; less fun opponent; poor payout but MAC helps make it up
7 Arizona against 7-5 Nevada less --less fun location; less fun opponent; poor payout
8 Camellia against 9-4 Arkansas State --less fun location; less fun opponent; poor payout

1 Mobile against 10-3 Troy
2 Boca Raton against 11-2 FAU
3 Bahamas against 8-5 Southern Miss
4 Wrigley against 6-6 Maryland
5 Camellia against 9-4 Arkansas State
6 Arizona against 7-5 Nevada
7 Potato against 7-5 Colorado State
8 Motor City against 6-6 Syracuse

Mobile means MAC championship, so that's a no-brainer as #1. And I've heard good things about Mobile as a bowl host.

Wrigley - close to Kzoo and hot recruiting area - against any P5 puts it high on the list. Even though a freezing outdoor game just doesn't sound appealing.

I picked Detroit last because I don't want to play the same team twice in one season (Syracuse). We play them 2018 and 2019. If it was some other random 6-6 P5, it would've landed somewhere between #3-5

Boca works for me.
I was just by the stadium about a hour ago.

FYI ...11-2 FAU would presumably be CUSA champs. Boca and Mobile should each feature the champs of their leagues. In CUSA the champ chooses the destination. Some years it's an AAC opponent though. In which it depends how they will ship teams around. In 2015 Temple was the leagues number 2 as their champ went Access.

(06-20-2018 01:18 PM)Boca Rocket Wrote:  Boca works for me.
I was just by the stadium about a hour ago.

Well, in fairness to me, I think the MAC should partner with Conference X (whatever it is) and have a new bowl at the new soccer stadium in D.C. (opening July 14).

P.S. I'd like to see the bowl game in Annapolis move to D.C.