One more thought.
While I agree with orangeandbrown and others that Marshall is a very appealing bowl team, there may be a way around this.
I'm thinking of cash under the table.
This isn't as absurd as it sounds. In fact, there is precedent.
Marshall won the MAC in 2000 with a 7-5 record, and the Motor City Bowl was not happy about it. They wanted Toledo -- which finished 10-1, ranked, and without another bowl option. They also wanted Western Michigan -- which finished with a better record but lost the MAC championship 19-14 at Marshall.
And they may have had a legal leg to stand on. If memory serves, the Motor City Bowl might have had wording in its contract that would have allowed them to take another team, such as Toledo, because of Marshall's piss poor 6-5 regular season record.
Rick Chryst, to his credit, didn't let this happen. He thought the MAC championship needed to mean something -- and that meant holding our collective noses and doing what it took to force Marshall down Detroit's throat.
So the MAC paid the Motor City Bowl to keep them whole financially. This was reported a year or two later in one of the West Virginia papers, and I really wish I had saved the article. I *believe* what happened is that each MAC school was assessed a fee, which the MAC paid to the Motor City Bowl. Or perhaps it just came right out of MAC revenue sharing. It's been a few years, and I didn't save the article, but I'm *positive* such a payment was made, and we're talking six figures, here.
It could be argued that it is once again in the MAC's interest to take action and make sure justice is served -- this time by sticking it to Marshall.
You can bet the ADs do *not* want Marshall to waltz through the MAC to a league title this year. The decision to play the MAC title game in Detroit spoke volumes.
I would think it would also drive ADs crazy to watch Marshall playing in a bowl game this season while equally or more deserving MAC teams sat home.
And if we finish this season 9-2, my friends, we would probably be more deserving.
The only two catches to this scenario are:
1. Marshall couldn't win the MAC title. If they did, then they'd have to go to a bowl game, for the same reason they did in 2000.
2. It would be very, very difficult to keep a lid on a MAC conspiracy to stick it to Marshall. Some of you are well aware of the way Bobby Pruett and others down there were flapping their gums at the decision to move the MAC title game to Detroit. They weren't happy. I doubt they'd stay silent again. And maybe that would be enough to scotch the whole thing for Chryst.
But it wouldn't be if I were MAC commissioner.
Screw Marshall. It would be fun to do.
Two final thoughts:
1. Yes, Marshall would likely travel best to the GMAC Bowl -- but the GMAC Bowl has tended to sell out -- or nearly sell out -- no matter what. The game gets a lot of local support. Also, Northern Illinois likely remains on the radar screens of Alabama football fans since the Huskies upset the Crimson Tide last year.
2. Marshall owes the MAC an exit fee. Maybe this wouldn't even require a special assessment of MAC schools.
Look at the attendance for the MCB last year though. Before hand, everyone was saying there might not even be 30K there and the place seemed almost full! People at the game saw how good the Falcon's are and would come back to watch again. I know it's a college bowl game and people will come anyways, but there will get a lot of fans there. I don't see how having Marshall going to any bowl game would attract fans. Until they prove that they are a respectable team, no one is going to want to watch them.