Bowl eligibility?

[akronzips71]

So I want to see if I understand this, if not please correct:

 

We have 4 remaining games. Win one we are guaranteed to go .500 for the year and are ELIGIBLE for a bowl bid.

Win two and we PROBABLY get a bowl bid.

Win three out of four and are GUARANTEED a bowl bid.

 

If this is not the case, please explain how this all works.

 

(Also, it is possible we could go to the MAC championship game, lose, be under .500 and not bowl eligible???)

[UAZippers]

To be bowl eligible, all that matters is that you get to 6 wins. 

 

With so many bowls, it is very unlikely that a 6 win team will not go bowling this year. It is actually pretty likely that there will not be enough teams to fill the bowls again. If that happens, they fill the bowls with 5 win teams based on academic performance. 

[zippy5]

Yeah there's no chance we're at home with 7 wins. 

[zipsoutsider]

Technically, there are no guarantees, but with the agreements we have with the MAC and the number of bowl games it is unlikely. IIRC, a 6 win MAC team (was it Ohio in 2014 or Toledo in 2013) did not go bowling in the not too distant past. By mid of November, usually some media outlet has run the numbers on the number of teams with six wins and the number of teams with enough games left to clinch 6 wins to project. I am not sure if last year was an anomaly or if there are legitimately too many bowls now for 5 win teams to be excluded.

 

That being said, we should beat Buffalo and BGSU to put us at 7, and hopefully Ohio to put us at our most regular season wins as a D1 program, ever and get our chance at our second successive bowl bid!

[kreed5120]

6 hours ago, zipsoutsider said:

Technically, there are no guarantees, but with the agreements we have with the MAC and the number of bowl games it is unlikely. IIRC, a 6 win MAC team (was it Ohio in 2014 or Toledo in 2013) did not go bowling in the not too distant past. By mid of November, usually some media outlet has run the numbers on the number of teams with six wins and the number of teams with enough games left to clinch 6 wins to project. I am not sure if last year was an anomaly or if there are legitimately too many bowls now for 5 win teams to be excluded.

 

That being said, we should beat Buffalo and BGSU to put us at 7, and hopefully Ohio to put us at our most regular season wins as a D1 program, ever and get our chance at our second successive bowl bid!

 

I think another factor that is in play is that you are seeing fewer P5 programs scheduling FCS teams. Nebraska last season was 1 of the teams that went 5-7 and went to a bowl game. Their OOC schedule consisted of Miami, BYU and 2 G5 programs. They probably get to 6 wins had they scheduled 2 G5, 1 FCS and played Miami or BYU, not both.

 

Padding OOC win totals with a weak OOC schedule use to be how teams approached scheduling. Now tv dollars and needing opportunities for quality wins to get into playoff contention has discouraged this.

[zippy5]

That's a good point. There are literally less wins to go around with less FCS games

[Z.I.P.]

I am assuming this is now going to be the official unofficial "Akron Goes Bowling 2016" thread?

 

ESPN's dynamic duo of Mark Schlabach and Brett McMurphy are agreed that the team will be heading to Miami to play -- of all declining, former CFP contending teams -- the Houston Cougars!  http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/17864836/college-football-bowl-projections-2016-season-week-9

 

I have to wonder, for this to occur, whether the Zips have to win-out from here.  Are they predicting that?

[kreed5120]

13 minutes ago, Z.I.P. said:

I am assuming this is now going to be the official unofficial "Akron Goes Bowling 2016" thread?

 

ESPN's dynamic duo of Mark Schlabach and Brett McMurphy are agreed that the team will be heading to Miami to play -- of all declining, former CFP contending teams -- the Houston Cougars!  http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/17864836/college-football-bowl-projections-2016-season-week-9

 

I have to wonder, for this to occur, whether the Zips have to win-out from here.  Are they predicting that?

I'm under the impression that the Mobile, Alabama bowl is the unofficial bowl game for the MAC champ. I see they have WMU slotted in it now which makes sense. I wouldn't place too much emphasis on bowl projections this time of year. It's too hard to tell which conferences will and won't be able to fill their bowl slots at the moment.

[wadszip]

28 minutes ago, Z.I.P. said:

I am assuming this is now going to be the official unofficial "Akron Goes Bowling 2016" thread?

 

ESPN's dynamic duo of Mark Schlabach and Brett McMurphy are agreed that the team will be heading to Miami to play -- of all declining, former CFP contending teams -- the Houston Cougars!  http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/17864836/college-football-bowl-projections-2016-season-week-9

 

I have to wonder, for this to occur, whether the Zips have to win-out from here.  Are they predicting that?

I'm guessing they are treating the bowl matchups like the bracketologists treat the MAC in basketball, they are treating WMU as No. 1 and in Mobile. Since Akron is tied for the East lead they are assuming they are the No. 2 team and slotting them in Miami. 

 

But the bowls get to pick and I doubt the Miami Beach bowl passes on Toledo. 

 

Like Kreed said, it's too early to try to guess who goes where. The only thing I think is certain is that if Akron makes the MAC title game, it will not be heading back to Boise. All the other spots look good to me as far as location as they would likely go South, or maybe to San Diego.

[Blue & Gold]

I was trying to remember which bowls the MAC was affiliated with.  In case anyone else needed a refresher:

 

Raycom Media Camelia Bowl, Montgomery, AL, vs. Sun Belt (Saturday, December 17, 5:30 p.m.)

Miami Beach Bowl, Miami, FL, vs. American Athletic (Monday, December 19, 2:30 p.m.)

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, Boise, ID, vs. Mountain West (Thursday, December 22, 7:00 p.m.)

Popeyes Bahamas Bowl, Nassau, Bahamas, vs. Conference USA (Friday, December 23, 1:00 p.m.)

GoDaddy Bowl, Mobile, AL, vs. Sun Belt (Friday, December 23, 8:00 p.m.)

 

Then we're the emergency backup in two bowls:

San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl, San Diego, CA, (Wednesday, December 21, 9:00 p.m.) -Backup if BYU's not bowl eligible

Quick Lane Bowl, Detroit, MI (Monday, December 26, 2:30 p.m.) -Backup to both ACC & B1G. Not really sure what that means, exactly.

[GJGood]

I really hope someday the MAC gets a specific bowl game for its champion and that it is paired with a team from a P5 conference. In fact I think every G5 champion not in the New Yeas Six should be paired with a P5 team.

[Balsy]

58 minutes ago, GJGood said:

I really hope someday the MAC gets a specific bowl game for its champion and that it is paired with a team from a P5 conference. In fact I think every G5 champion not in the New Yeas Six should be paired with a P5 team.

 

Totally agree, but I don't think that's ever going to happen because of $$.  P5 vs P5 is going to draw more than G5 vs P5...or at least that's the logic that would be used to not do it.

[GJGood]

2 hours ago, Balsy said:

 

Totally agree, but I don't think that's ever going to happen because of $$.  P5 vs P5 is going to draw more than G5 vs P5...or at least that's the logic that would be used to not do it.

I agree that its all about the $$$ but still think there would be room for something like the CUSA champ to play the Pac-12 5th place or something. All the non-champs of G5 conferences in bowls could play other non-champ G5 teams..... It has just always seemed odd to me that the reward for winning the MAC could be a bowl game against the 3rd place Sun Belt team or vice versa, especially when talking about one of the teams having 10, 11, or 12 wins.