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I was browsing the standings on ESPN and as of right now there 72 teams that are still eligible for a bowl bid or can earn that bid with a win. There are 70 teams that are already bowl eligible and two games will determine the fate of the final two teams that can earn eligibility. Right now the MAC has 6 teams eligible and if Middle Tenn State and Washington both lose then they will send 6 teams to bowl games. It's possible too that if Middle Tennesse State wins the bowls will choose a MAC team over them. Anyway of looking at it it sounds like we will get atleast 5 teams and very possibility 6 teams. I assume this will be a record for most bowl games for mac schools in a year, right?

Washington, need to win to become eligible
Washington State

MIddle Tennessee State, need to win to become eligible
Florida International

72 teams, 40 of them are crap. Bowl season needs to be cut down.

I mentioned in a previous post that Six teams would be "bowl eligible" if we lost to WMU... this was in response to someone saying the MAC is a crappy league this year... I'm NOT saying that the MAC is some sort of "super league", anywhere NEAR the 2003 season when MAC teams were knocking off the "powers" with regularity. But six out of 13 teams being eligible isn't bad either, despite the eligibility requirements being so minimal. Many leagues don't come near this percentage of teams available for bowls.
Would I like to see a couple of "super teams" emerge soon? Yes! CMU over the previous few years was close, yet didn't always win "the big one". Miami's Rothlisberger teams were probably the best the MAC had to offer in this decade. Are there too many bowls? Yup! And Sports Illustrated had an article several weeks ago about how the bowls wind up making money, but the teams playing in them, Including OSU, can LOSE money. But the schools and the coaches still want to go as it helps with recruiting and spreading the school's "footprint" on a national scale. Even our appearance in the Humanitarian Bowl last year put BG in a very positive light, despite the last second loss.

[quote][/Are there too many bowls? Yup! And Sports Illustrated had an article several weeks ago about how the bowls wind up making money, but the teams playing in them, Including OSU, can LOSE money. But the schools and the coaches still want to go as it helps with recruiting and spreading the school's "footprint" on a national scale. Even our appearance in the Humanitarian Bowl last year put BG in a very positive light, despite the last second loss.
quote]

REcently heard this on ESPN radio, an in depth discussion on how schools even the mighty buckeyes lose money in bowl games. I believe they mentioned the OSU athletic department lost a million dollars the year OSU played texas, unheard of. I would like to see a school that is 10 - 2 or have a bowl bid actually turn it down and not go because they don't want their athletic department to into debt. Now wouldn't that shake things up in the bowl system if teams started turning down games because they lost money, maybe give the money to the schools rather then line the packets of these bowl directors. The radio conversation said the major issue is that these school are tied to a ticket allotment in which they must fill or purchase if not filled. I'm sure the MAC teams get hammered on this and I'd be surprised if a MAC football program actually made money on bowl game ever.

They can say that OSU loses a million dollars when they attend a bowl game, but actually OSU is spending a million to make many millions additional.

OSU takes a HUGE entourage to bowl games. They invite not only the members of their Board of Trustees (who already donate millions of dollars each year to the university), but influential alums, politicians (those who control the state $$$$ and can help them gain access to additional federal $$$$), and other potential big money donors.

When OSU last went to the Fiesta Bowl, they chartered a 767 just for the above group. That doesn't include the charter for the football team, the band and cheerleaders, as well as all of the various alumni charters out of Port Columbus.

Were any bowl eligible teams not taken?

Globetrotter wrote:Were any bowl eligible teams not taken?

WMU and Temple

transfer: Great perspective, thanks. Hard to feel sorry for a school taking an 8-figure payout.

And as for there being too many bowls ... this has been debated on this (and other) boards many times. My opinion remains - what's the harm? It's an exhibition game. It's an excuse for some folks to take a trip. It's an opportunity for some schools to get in two dozen extra practices.

Noah & I made three bowl trips together. If the naysayers had their way, those bowls wouldn't exist and those memories would be, well, they wouldn't exist, either. But those remain some of my fondest memories and I wouldn't trade them for the world.

It's just football. Let's just enjoy it.

Hard to feel sorry for a school taking an 8-figure payout.

The money generated from winnning or losing is divided by the entire conference. Those if you win your bowl game and win a million dollars and have ten teams in your conference you actually just won one hundred thousand dollars. A fact many don't know and the media fails to report when put those numbers in the paper, bigger numbers always look better.

They split after expenses, normally.

unfalconbelievable wrote:

Hard to feel sorry for a school taking an 8-figure payout.

The money generated from winnning or losing is divided by the entire conference. Those if you win your bowl game and win a million dollars and have ten teams in your conference you actually just won one hundred thousand dollars. A fact many don't know and the media fails to report when put those numbers in the paper, bigger numbers always look better.

But look at the money the Big 10 is going to rake in from the bowls this season and even Indiana is going to walk away with $2.5-$3 million while sitting at home.

ESPN ranks all the bowl games from best to worst. The 3 worst bowl games involve MAC schools. Guess I can't say that I am surprised.