HuskerfaninOkieland Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 USA Today Six wins might not be enough for bowl By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY Though this season has been defined by prominent upsets, one surprising trend emerging is the number of bowl-eligible teams from the major conferences. With three weekends remaining, there are 60 bowl-eligible teams and 19 five-win teams for 64 spots in the 32 bowls. Only Navy, which accepted a bid to the Poinsettia Bowl, knows where it's headed so far. In the Southeastern Conference, 10 of 12 teams already have six wins and Vanderbilt has five. In the Big Ten, a record 10 of 11 teams are eligible, with Minnesota being the only exception. The Big Ten's Rose Bowl spot will be decided Saturday when Ohio State faces Michigan in Ann Arbor. (If the Buckeyes win, they still have a chance, though unlikely, at the national championship provided five teams in front of them in the Bowl Championship Series standings lose.) So what does this mean, say, for the SEC, which has eight spots for possibly 11 teams? Win seven games or likely stay home. "Another win guarantees our chances of being in a bowl," says Mississippi State coach Sylvester Croom, whose 6-4 team plays 6-4 Arkansas in a crucial matchup at Little Rock. The league must include seven-win teams first for its bowl slots. "I don't want to worry about getting help from somewhere else. To me, it's like being in the NFL playoffs. You don't want to sit around and wait for someone to help you, because most times that help never comes." LSU could help its conference brethren by winning out and making it to the BCS title game Jan. 7, opening an extra slot. Also, if another conference doesn't have enough bowl-eligible teams to fill its contracts, other eligible teams may be selected. However, all seven-win or better teams must be selected to fill those spots before 6-6 teams. The Big Ten has record number of bowl-eligible teams for seven spots. The league has never produced 10 teams with records of .500 or better. The most number of bowl teams the league has ever had was eight in 2003. In the Big Ten, the easiest bowl-eligible team to root for is Indiana, which has played with great sadness and purpose following the death of coach Terry Hoeppner. The Hoosiers can assure themselves of their first bowl game since 1993 with a seventh win, against rival Purdue on Saturday. "This is the biggest yet, the one this week, with a group of guys that I've got a lot of respect for with all they've been through," says Indiana coach Bill Lynch of the battle for the Old Oaken Bucket. Quote Link to comment
knapplc Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 If Nebraska beats Colorado we are going to a bowl. That's been decided. Notice that this article doesn't even mention the Big XII. Quote Link to comment
HuskerfaninOkieland Posted November 16, 2007 Author Share Posted November 16, 2007 Since there was no mention of the B12 in this article, here are the current standings for the B12 (Big 12 record followed by overall) North Kansas 6-0/10-0 Missouri 5-1/9-1 Kansas State 3-4/5-5 Colorado 3-4/5-6 Nebraska 2-5/5-6 Iowa State 2-5/3-8 South Oklahoma 5-1/9-1 Texas 5-2/9-2 Oklahoma State 3-3/5-5 Texas A&M 3-4/6-5 Texas Tech 3-4/7-4 Baylor 0-7/3-8 Teams in bold are already bowl eligible. Teams in red are still hoping to become bowl eligible Quote Link to comment
808Husker in KCMO Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 At 6-5, doesn't that make aTm eligible? Plus, if the Big 12 gets a team in the NC game, we'll also likely get an at large BCS bid upping out availible bowl games to 9. With baylor and ISU ineligible, the winner of the Huskers/ Fuballoes game will at least get the TEXAS bowl. Quote Link to comment
Cy the Cyclone Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 Too many bowls with too many mediocre and down right piss-poor teams eligible to play in them. Why...when I WAS A BOY there were only four or five bowl games and they showcased the top teams. It meant something when you played in a bowl game back in the day...now it just means you scheduled yourself a cakewalk non-conference schedule and accidently beat a couple of the tomato cans in your conference... Look at Iowa. Those idiots are positively pathetic yet they are eligible for a bowl bid. What big victories did they achieve to get to this point? Northwestern? Minnesota? Yeah...real hallmark victories there. Why don't they just round up a few more greedy cities and tv networks and invent some more bowls so everybody can play in one? Quote Link to comment
cmb23 Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I still get a kick out of a guy that calls a .500 team 'pathetic' when his rooting interest is batting .300... Quote Link to comment
Cy the Cyclone Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I still get a kick out of a guy that calls a .500 team 'pathetic' when his rooting interest is batting .300... Newsflash for you...a portion of that .300 batting average was the team I was referring to as pathetic. Totally justified. Quote Link to comment
Glendower Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 At 6-5, doesn't that make aTm eligible? Plus, if the Big 12 gets a team in the NC game, we'll also likely get an at large BCS bid upping out availible bowl games to 9. With baylor and ISU ineligible, the winner of the Huskers/ Fuballoes game will at least get the TEXAS bowl. They could lose and end up with a .5 (or less? Do they have a bye before the end of the season?), the bold teams could lose out and still be doing a'ight. Quote Link to comment
Glendower Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I still get a kick out of a guy that calls a .500 team 'pathetic' when his rooting interest is batting .300... What's wrong with that? It's not like he said his team isn't pathetic and others are. In fact, he should know pathetic better than any of us. Quote Link to comment
knapplc Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I still get a kick out of a guy that calls a .500 team 'pathetic' when his rooting interest is batting .300... What's wrong with that? It's not like he said his team isn't pathetic and others are. In fact, he should know pathetic better than any of us. Ohhhhhh SNAP!!! (just kidding, Cy) Quote Link to comment
Cy the Cyclone Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I still get a kick out of a guy that calls a .500 team 'pathetic' when his rooting interest is batting .300... What's wrong with that? It's not like he said his team isn't pathetic and others are. In fact, he should know pathetic better than any of us. We are NOT amused... Quote Link to comment
huskerswrkhavoc Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 only teams and i mean ONLY teams that will get bowl bids over us will be the 7-5 and better teams.. we travel way to well as a fan base and especially with a coaching change happening, i think the fans will have a renewed sense of belief in the program Quote Link to comment
HuskerKing130 Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 USA Today Six wins might not be enough for bowl By Kelly Whiteside, USA TODAY Though this season has been defined by prominent upsets, one surprising trend emerging is the number of bowl-eligible teams from the major conferences. With three weekends remaining, there are 60 bowl-eligible teams and 19 five-win teams for 64 spots in the 32 bowls. Only Navy, which accepted a bid to the Poinsettia Bowl, knows where it's headed so far. Thats incorrect, there are 61 bowl-eligible teams. Quote Link to comment
HuskerTrucker Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 I would love to see the Huskers play in a bowl...without BC and company...but honestly, I don't think their defensive numbers this year lend to them going anywhere unless someone is looking for a high scoring game. The one thing that might also add to the possibility is that Husker fans travel well with the team for bowl games...and spend money. Quote Link to comment
MCAT800 Posted November 17, 2007 Share Posted November 17, 2007 If NU ends up 6-6 somebody will pick us up for a bowl game. The tradition and more importantly the way the fans travel means $$$$ for the bowl and city, yea NU will go bowling if they beat CU Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.