What the bowl picture looks like right now

[kdog27]

Also, I really hope it's DC over Birmingham. No interest in going there.

boo

Though I don't blame you because the stadium is a craphole and surrounded by projects, but it would be nice to welcome some Falcons to Bham.

[BGSU33]

Heading into Saturday (Nov 24), the bowl picture (70 spots) now looks like this. There are 64 bowl-eligible teams as of now. Today West Virginia and Central Michigan became eligible while Marshall was eliminated from the picture. On Saturday, there will be 12 games played that will either put teams in or out of the picture (except for UConn and Pitt which need to win Saturday and also their next game too, and Baylor would need a win next week if it loses on Saturday but is in if it does win). If at last 6 of those 12 lose, BG will be in a bowl. Below are those 12 games:

Tulsa at SMU (need Tulsa to win)
Conneticut at Louisville (need Louisville to win)
Indiana at Purdue (need Indiana to win)
Rutgers at Pittsbugh (need Rutgers to win)
Virginia at Virginia Tech (need Virginia to win)
Baylor vs Texas Tech (need Texas Tech to win)
Troy at Middle Tennessee (need Middle Tennessee to win)
Vanderbilt at Wake Forest (need Vandrbilt to win)
Michigan State at Minnesota (need Minnesota to win)
Rice at UTEP (need UTEP to win)
Mississippi State at Mississippi (need Mississippi State to win)
Missouri at Texas A&M (need Texas A&M to win)

Wow! We are 0 for 5 so far in these games. Hope none of this matters eventually.

Disaster of a start today in games that could help BG....

[Flipper]

Yep...it's about TV markets and eyeballs for the network. How soon before the B1G hoops tournamanet gets hosted by Rutgers at Madison Square garden?

Never. If the Big East leaves MSG the ACC will move in.

Not sure the ACC would want to...the Big East? Is they're still going to be a Big East?

[BGSU33]

Guys, this is getting concerning.....now Minnesota, Texas Tech and Middle Tennessee and are losing too. Vanderbilt is actually looking good which is the only game of the first nine so far today going our way. If this keeps up, we could be out of the bowl picture tonight.

[bgsufalcon24]

Seriously, what are the odds that all of these 6-6 teams get picked in front of an 8-4 BGSU team. These aren't all teams from power conferences either, we're talking about 6-6 teams like Southern Methodist, Troy, and Rice. I have an extremely hard time that any of those 3 for example get in over either Ohio or BGSU.

Do the bowl committees take into account conference strength when making these decisions? That would definitely help BG against schools from the Big East or the ACC, as the MAC was clearly better than those two conferences this year.

[Zig]

Seriously, what are the odds that all of these 6-6 teams get picked in front of an 8-4 BGSU team. These aren't all teams from power conferences either, we're talking about 6-6 teams like Southern Methodist, Troy, and Rice. I have an extremely hard time that any of those 3 for example get in over either Ohio or BGSU.

Do the bowl committees take into account conference strength when making these decisions? That would definitely help BG against schools from the Big East or the ACC, as the MAC was clearly better than those two conferences this year.

Record-wise you make sense.

Unfortunately, BG is not a great draw for attendance at all compared to a lot of other 6-6 teams. We might get snubbed based solely on our not-so-large fanbase compared to other schools.

[BGSU33]

Seriously, what are the odds that all of these 6-6 teams get picked in front of an 8-4 BGSU team. These aren't all teams from power conferences either, we're talking about 6-6 teams like Southern Methodist, Troy, and Rice. I have an extremely hard time that any of those 3 for example get in over either Ohio or BGSU.

Do the bowl committees take into account conference strength when making these decisions? That would definitely help BG against schools from the Big East or the ACC, as the MAC was clearly better than those two conferences this year.

You have to remember the bowl tie-ins for the conferences. CUSA has five and only had three filled coming into today. SMU won and is in for the fourth, and if Rice wins they'll get the fifth. Yes, both at 6-6. As for some of the Sun Belt teams, if it's southern bowls looking to fill spots, who is likely to bring more fans with them, a team from Alabama or one from Ohio? Bottom line is, we need help after our loss to Kent State and right now, we're getting almost none.

[BGSU33]

Baylor just got in....it just won't stop.....this reminds me of 2005 when we needed like one of seven games to go our way in the last week of action to break our way to go to the MAC Championship and not one of them did.

[Globetrotter]

The answer is better marketing leading to a bigger fan base. It's embarrassing that we could go 8-4 and not make a bowl.

[BGSU33]

Michigan State is on its way in.....

[jpfalcon09]

Remaining teams left:
Rice
Troy
Mizzou
Ole Miss
UConn
Pitt
GA Tech (?)

We're at 69 teams right now with Baylor and Sparty just getting in, so there's still a slight amount of wiggle room here left, especially since a 6-6 CMU team isn't going to be picked ahead of BG. Even if we get to 70+ teams, I still think BG will get a bowl game over an at-large from a similar non-AQ conference. After tonight things should be much clearer.

[Zig]

The answer is better marketing leading to a bigger fan base. It's embarrassing that we could go 8-4 and not make a bowl.

Marketing? Pfft. No. We just need to win games more consistently. Our market is so small that winning is going to be the prime driving force behind attendance. If you get loyalty, then you won't have to worry about marketing too much.

I wouldn't say it's embarrassing either. Especially considering how strong the MAC is this year. NIU, Kent, Toledo, and Ball St. are all respectfully ahead of us. Most years we wouldn't have this much competition for the MAC bowl spots, but this year we do.

I mean, heck, we went 9-3 in 2002 and didn't go bowling. It happens.

[BGSU33]

Tulsa at SMU (need Tulsa to win) LOST
Conneticut at Louisville (need Louisville to win) LOST
Indiana at Purdue (need Indiana to win) LOST
Rutgers at Pittsbugh (need Rutgers to win) LOST
Virginia at Virginia Tech (need Virginia to win) LOST
Baylor vs Texas Tech (need Texas Tech to win) LOST
Troy at Middle Tennessee (need Middle Tennessee to win) WON
Vanderbilt at Wake Forest (need Vandrbilt to win) WON
Michigan State at Minnesota (need Minnesota to win) LOST
Rice at UTEP (need UTEP to win)
Mississippi State at Mississippi (need Mississippi State to win)
Missouri at Texas A&M (need Texas A&M to win)

Teams are now 2-7 in games we needed help. There are now 69 teams eligible for the 70 spots with three more teams yet to play tonight that can get in (Rice, Mississippi and Missouri) and two more (UConn and Pitt) who still can get in next week.

[jpfalcon09]

If Mizzou and Ole Miss both lose, the BBVA Compass Bowl and Liberty Bowl are both in play due to having SEC tie-ins. Military Bowl is in play because Army didn't get in and the ACC won't fill enough slots. New Orleans Bowl is in play if Rice loses. The losers at the end of the day might be 7-5/6-6 Sun Belt teams with no tie-in. Bowls will take an 8-4 MAC team over that any day of the week, especially with how strong the conference has been this year.

[MarkL]

Right on. The MAC has been very strong all year. The reputation of the conference this season should lead to a lot of bowls.