Week 10 Preview, Picks, Bowl Talk

[MACReport]

The week ten preview is now posted at MAC Report Online.This week's stuff:--Bowl Chatter--MAC Coach of the Year Candidates--Previews & Picks for Saturday's Gameswww.macreportonline.comThanks for stopping by!

[johnnyzip84]

It is important to remember that a team must finish at least 6-6 to be bowl eligible and it is equally important to understand that a bowl must fill, if it is forced to look outside its tie-ins, at teams with records of 7-5 or better before turning to available 6-6 teams to fill any openings.

Whoa, if this is true it must be new to the NCAA for this year. This could be HUGE down the stretch for the MAC this year. I mean, how many times do 6-6 teams from the Big 10/11 or SEC or elsewhere traditionally get picked over a 7-5 MAC, WAC or Sunbelt team? It's a little hard for me to believe that the bowls would go along with this change. Does anyone have any insight?

[zen]

It just says that a bowl must fill. It doesn't say that it must take a 7-5 over a 6-6.

[johnnyzip84]

It just says that a bowl must fill. It doesn't say that it must take a 7-5 over a 6-6.

Then how do you interpret the last part of the sentence,

if it is forced to look outside its tie-ins, at teams with records of 7-5 or better before turning to available 6-6 teams to fill any openings

?

[ZachTheZip]

It just says that a bowl must fill. It doesn't say that it must take a 7-5 over a 6-6.

Then how do you interpret the last part of the sentence,

if it is forced to look outside its tie-ins, at teams with records of 7-5 or better before turning to available 6-6 teams to fill any openings

?

The important part is the phrase "outside its tie-ins". That means that a bowl with a tie-in to the Big Ten would have to take a team from that conference before taking a team from another conference. A 6-6 Wisconsin would go ahead of a 7-5 NIU.

[akronad]

The key word in this whole thing is "tie-ins". If a team with a tie-in has a 6-6 mark they are in at bowl game. Conversely, if there are no more teams with a tie-in, that is when the 7-5 mark comes into play.That is why it is so important for us to win 3 of the final 4 games. We would then be 7-5 and going to the MACC. Even if we lost in that game, we would or should have a good chance at bowling. However, if we finish 6-6. Still go to the MACC and lose, we will be sitting at home during the bowl season.

[johnnyzip84]

OK, I see the importance of the "tie in". And since the BCS conferences are the ones who have the hardest time filling their "tie-ins" (only because they have the MOST "tie-ins") then it's pretty unlikely that there would ever be a 6-6 BCS team that has NOT qualified for a bowl via a "tie-in". But there is one, non-BCS conference this year that is having a pretty good season for which this rule could affect. That would be the Mountain West which has 4 "tie-ins", all of which have been filled already (unless Utah ends up in a BCS bowl). It would be possible for New Mexico, Colorado State or UNLV to finish 6-6. And as long as the Zips, for instance, would finish 7-5, then bowls that are left hanging by the ACC would have to pick UA over the 6-6 MWC team (or WAC/Conf USA etc). This may seem like a subtle point, but it could very well make the difference between going to a bowl and not going to a bowl for at least one MAC school (although it will probably have more influence on the fortunes of MAC West teams).