Bowl Projections!

[jpfalcon09]

Now that we're closing in on the end of the season, figured it would be good to group all of the various bowl projections out there.

CBS Sports: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootbal ... redictions

BG vs Arkansas State

USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc ... s/3637737/

BG vs. Cincinnati

ESPN: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc ... s/3637737/

BG/North Texas and BG/Boise State

SBNation: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nc ... s/3637737/

BG vs. Utah State

CFN: http://cfn.scout.com/2/557866.html

BG vs. Washington State

[Flipper]

BG vs UC would be very interesting given the recruiting battles we've had with them over the years

[Falcon137]

May have to do NYC for Christmas if the Pinstripe Bowl happened. Seems that would be a good spot for Buffalo, however.

[svillefalcon]

The Pinstripe Bowl vs. Cincy would be awesome! I am hoping for that! Although I don't think I'll care what bowl we go to if we win the MAC. That is and always will be #1.

[BGFalconfromCincy]

May have to do NYC for Christmas if the Pinstripe Bowl happened. Seems that would be a good spot for Buffalo, however.

They have Buffalo in Boise in that projection, so they likely believe Buffalo will beat us that final game of the season. With each division winner ensured a bowl the MAC likely tells its three bowls to have two of the three slots be the division champs

[MobileBama]

SB Nation has you guys playing Western Kentucky in Mobile. I know that's a haul but it would be great to have you guys back in Mobile.

CBS has you in the Idaho Bowl vs Arkansas State

[Falcon84]

SB Nation Matt Daley Updated November 24th. For what it's worth!

http://www.hustlebelt.com/mac-football/ ... thanks-niu

[jpfalcon09]

Just a quick update:

ESPN has BG playing either Oregon State in Boise or San Diego State in San Diego.
CFN and Stewart Mandel from SI have BG playing Arkansas State in Mobile

Also, there are currently 69 teams bowl eligible, the total should be somewhere between 72-75. Its likely the MAC will have 7 bowl eligible teams again, but CMU may be left in the dark. At this point, I think BG is going to a bowl no matter what, but obviously winning the East will solidify that. Mandel believes that the MAC will send all 7 teams to bowls.

[Tommy Glantz Is A Sniper]

Also, there are currently 69 teams bowl eligible, the total should be somewhere between 72-75. Its likely the MAC will have 7 bowl eligible teams again, but CMU may be left in the dark. At this point, I think BG is going to a bowl no matter what, but obviously winning the East will solidify that. Mandel believes that the MAC will send all 7 teams to bowls.

I count 71 eligible teams. There are 72 teams with six wins, minus Penn State.

Looks to me like BG is probably going to go somewhere for December regardless of the Buffalo game. If you assume we're more desirable than UTSA, Texas State, and Ohio, that puts BG no lower than 68th among currently bowl-eligible teams in the pecking order for 70 slots.

Here are the teams who could still become bowl-eligible:
SMU (5-5): @Houston, vs. UCF. Will be the underdog in both games. Would likely be chosen ahead of BG if eligible.
Rutgers (5-5): @UConn, vs. USF. Heavy favorite in both games. Would likely be chosen ahead of BG.
Syracuse (5-6): vs. BC. Could win. Probably won't. Would likely be chosen ahead of BG.
Florida Atlantic (5-6): vs. FIU. Doesn't matter. Nobody's going to overlook an 8-win MAC school for a 6-win CUSA school.
CMU (5-6): vs. EMU. Will win. Won't affect BG.
Wyoming (5-6): @Utah State. Will lose. Probably wouldn't get an invite ahead of an eight-win BG team anyway, unless it's to the Boise Bowl.
San Jose State (5-6): vs. Fresno. Hey, good luck with that.
Mississippi State (5-6): vs. Ole Miss. Will probably lose. If they win, would be picked ahead of BG.
Troy (5-6): vs. TxState. Doesn't matter. Nobody's going to overlook an 8-win MAC school for a 6-win Sun Belt school.
ULM (5-6): vs. ULL. See Troy.

The absolute worst-case plausible scenario is if Syracuse, Mississippi State, SMU, and Rutgers win. That would put BG no lower than 72nd.

BUT...Arkansas State (7-4) is playing WKU (7-4) this weekend. The loser gets shuffled behind BG, you'd think.

So even in the worst-case scenario, which is exceedingly unlikely to happen, BG is no worse than 71st in the race for 70 slots. And even that's assuming that seven teams from C-USA are more desirable than Bowling Green.

The solution, of course, is to go out there and hang 80 on Buffalo.

[BGSU33]

The one thing getting overlooked in some of these bowl projections is - proximity. Yes bowl games want the best matchup, but they want even more to sell tickets have people in the seats. Most bowl games are down south whether that is in the southeast or southwest. So before we just assume we'd be picked over team X because of several factors, keep in mind that team X might be a lot closer than BG and bringing more fans because of it. Take the wheeling and dealing done last year to land 6-6 CMU in the Motor City Bowl while a team like MTSU sat at home at 8-4. Yes the Motor City was a MAC bowl but it didn't go to one of the top three MAC teams last year due to some jockeying around. It was a brilliant move how things were arrange to land CMU there as I thought they were out for sure. It just goes to show how you never know. That said, let's just beat Buffalo and know for sure we're going bowling no matter where it is!

[jpfalcon09]

USA Today just updated their projections to include BG vs. Notre Dame in the Pizza Bowl.

[Flipper]

my head would literally explode if that were to happen....

[kdog27]

USA Today just updated their projections to include BG vs. Notre Dame in the Pizza Bowl.

wow that would be cool. Definitely wouldn't have to play in an empty stadium then.

[jpfalcon09]

USA Today just updated their projections to include BG vs. Notre Dame in the Pizza Bowl.

wow that would be cool. Definitely wouldn't have to play in an empty stadium then.

Indeed, I doubt it happens though. ND will most likely go to the Pinstripe Bowl, plus the Sun Belt has the secondary tie-in to the Ilitch Bowl.

[Redwingtom]

ND will NEVER play BG or in the LCPB or in Detroit.

<end discussion now>