Northern Illinois needs a new coach

[bobbyake]

I say we give them iCan'tCoach if they'll take him. A lot of teams are competing for coaches this year.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5888840

[zipseuph]

NIU = the Cleveland Browns of the MAC.

[akzipper]

NIU = the Cleveland Browns of the MAC.

The Browns have a decent season and their coach leaves to coach a better team?

[Zipmeister]

Change the names on lines 24 - 31 of the article and it sounds like the author is writing about the Zips.

[MDZip]

So four MAC teams got bowl bids, each of them is winnable, thought the NIU-Fresno St is probably the toughest. The three others are SunBelt foes. Time to start raising the league profile a little. A little surprised that Temple got left out.

[RowdyZip]

Temple got hosed so we can watch Georgia (6-6, 3-5 SEC) take on 10-3 UCF. Did the NCAA get rid of the rule making bowls take 8-4 and 7-5 teams first?

[johnnyzip84]

Temple got hosed so we can watch Georgia (6-6, 3-5 SEC) take on 10-3 UCF. Did the NCAA get rid of the rule making bowls take 8-4 and 7-5 teams first?

Yes, Temple got the shaft, and yes there is a new rule for this year.

Wiki

2010-11 Non-BCS bowl games

The 30 bowls that are not part of the BCS have contractual ties to specific conferences. For the 2010-11 bowl season, all 30 bowls have at least two tie-ins, meaning that there are no at-large spots open in these bowls, assuming that all conferences produce enough bowl eligible teams. Many bowls also have contingency contracts to offer spots to other specific conferences should their first choice not be eligible. If any slot cannot be filled by a contracted conference at all, then the spot becomes open, and the bowl can offer the slot to any eligible team.

To be eligible, a team must not have a losing record in the FBS. If a school plays 12 games, they must have at least six wins to qualify. If a school plays 13 games, they must then have at least seven wins to qualify. A rule change for 2010 allows bowls to tender a bid to any team with a 6-6 record before teams with more than six wins. Previously, a bowl with an at-large bid to fill was required to select the remaining team with the best record over a 6-6 team that would have been more financially attractive in terms of bringing more fans to the respective bowl. The contracts specify that the bowl receives a certain choice of teams, and this choice is typically not predicated on end-of-season rankings. For example, beginning this year, the Alamo Bowl has the third choice of Big 12 schools. That means they may choose any eligible Big 12 team after the first two bowls (in this case the BCS and the Cotton Bowl Classic) have chosen their teams from the conference. However, some conferences have special selection parameters written into their contracts with specific bowls — for example, the Capital One Bowl is contractually obligated to select the winningest Big Ten and SEC teams that do not make a BCS game, or a team within one win of the winningest in its conference, and the MAC's bowl contracts require that both division champions, if eligible, receive bids to one of its three contracted bowls.

[Zipmeister]

So four MAC teams got bowl bids, each of them is winnable, thought the NIU-Fresno St is probably the toughest. The three others are SunBelt foes. Time to start raising the league profile a little. A little surprised that Temple got left out.

The MAC will be extremely fortunate if they go 2 and 2 this bowl season. That would surpass their win total in the last umpteen years of bowl play?

[GP1]

The MAC will be extremely fortunate if they go 2 and 2 this bowl season. That would surpass their win total in the last umpteen years of bowl play?

I think the MAC is a better league this year than it has been in recent past years. The lower level teams are still unwatchable, but the upper level teams have had a good quality of play when I saw them play on TV.

For example, most MAC teams are more likely to blow a game than win a game. Miami won that game against a good NIU team. If you look at the stats, NIU had the only two turnovers of the game and there were only three penalties the entire game. It was well played. Miami just made one more play than NIU and they won. NIU did not blow the game.

The MAC needs to have more than one good year and then four horrible years. This season was a good year. The MAC could easily go at least 2-2 in their bowl games.