NU could end up anywhere if I read this correctly. This explains the process and a lower bowl is more likely unless they upset Iowa. This if from 2012:
A 6-6 record is the minimum standard to be bowl eligible -- and that six-win benchmark isn't going away anytime soon. But college football has now created rules for choosing teams when a bowl can't be filled by its conference affiliation or there aren't enough eligible teams for all of the 35 bowls.
In those situations, the tie-breaking process to go bowling will go like this:
1. First consideration goes to 6-6 teams with one win against Football Championship Subdivision teams, regardless of whether that FCS school meets NCAA scholarship requirements. Until now, an FCS win only counted if that opponent met the scholarship requirements.
2. Next up for consideration are 6-6 teams with two wins over FCS schools. It's really rare for an FBS school to schedule two FCS opponents in a single year.
3. Teams that finish 6-7 and lose in the conference championship game are next. Call this the UCLA rule. The Bruins, staring at a 6-6 record before the Pac-12 Championship Game last season, got a waiver from the NCAA to be bowl-eligible even if they lost, which they did. UCLA then lost in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl to finish 6-8.
4. Then come 6-7 teams that normally play a 13-team schedule, such as Hawaii and its home opponents.
5. Up next are FCS teams making the transition to the FBS, if they have at least a 6-6 record. Big winners under that rule: South Alabama, Texas-San Antonio, Texas State and UMass, who are all in the process of reclassifying from FCS to FBS. Suddenly and bizarrely, South Alabama's Aug. 30 opener against Texas-San Antonio in Mobile carries some potential bowl significance.
6. Finally, the nod would go to 5-7 teams that have a top-5 Academic Progress Rate score. So there's new hope for Duke, which hasn't gone to a bowl since 1995.
This process was created as the bowl system faces significant pressure to fill every postseason game in 2012. Ohio State, Penn State, North Carolina and Central Florida face bowl bans this season, although UCF is appealing and may still be eligible in 2012. Also, there are unresolved NCAA cases involving Oregon and Miami, which self-imposed a bowl ban in 2011.
Last season, college football had only 72 eligible teams for 70 bowl slots. Will there be enough in 2012?
If not, South Alabama and smart 5-7 teams wait in the wings.