Win 6, but no bowl: A Possibility?

Donate To GopherHole
BarnBoy

BarnBoy

Active member
Joined
Jan 12, 2009
Messages
4,218
Reaction score
21
Points
38
So I was trying to reconcile in my mind how every 6-win team can make a bowl. I thought maybe they invented new bowls to ensure that all 6-win teams get a bowl. I am sure that most of you already know this, but it's news to me.

From the Wikipedia article on bowl eligibility:

Occasionally there will be more bowl eligible teams than there are spots in the NCAA football bowl games in the season. In these cases, some bowl eligible teams will not be invited to play in any NCAA football bowl game.
Click to expand...

So that got me thinking. Any schools come to mind that have recently won 6 games but gotten the shaft? What is the likelihood that this would happen to a program like Minnesota (assuming we won six games)?

Do they factor in fanbase support on the road? Things like that?
 

This could be possible, but unlikely, especially considering that 2 of the B1G teams are ineligible.
 

It won't happen. The Big Ten has eight bowl tie-ins and only 10 eligible teams. Besides that many of the minor bowls would RUSH to get a Big Ten team.
 

Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference has eight bowl tie-ins.[5]
#1 Bowl Championship Series. The winner of the Big Ten Championship Game gains an automatic berth to a BCS bowl game, preferentially the Rose Bowl.
#2 The Capital One Bowl receives the second choice from the Big Ten, but must choose from remaining teams with the best overall record, or within one win of the best overall record. Starting in 2011, it may choose to take the runner up of the Big Ten Championship Game should its record be better than the league champion.
#3 The Outback Bowl receives the third choice of Big Ten teams.
#4 The Gator Bowl receives the fourth choice of Big Ten teams.
#5 The Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl receives the fifth choice of Big Ten teams
#6 The Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas receives the sixth choice of Big Ten teams.
#7 The TicketCity Bowl receives the seventh choice from the Big Ten.
#8 The Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl will take the eighth choice from the Big Ten; if no remaining teams are available, the bowl will choose a Sun Belt team.
 

This has happened in the past - but considering that the BIG has a specified number of bowl tie-ins, and the fact that OSU and PSU cannot go to any of these bowls - 6 would get us in.
 


Hell, let's win 3 or 4 more and head to FLORIDA for a change!
 

I've got to believe that if there is a few teams left out, they will be from non-BCS conferences.
 


The 8 bowls listed above are contractually obligated to invite a B1G team given that they are eligible. Last season there were more bowl eligible teams than there were B1G bowl tie-ins available. Illinois (6-6) ended up receiving an at-large bid due to that bowl's conference not being able to fill it. After this past weekend, the B1G is projected to not fill all 8 slots due to certain factors, so I wouldn't count on a 6-6 Gopher team to not receive an invite, even if there's a seemingly more deserving MAC bowl eligible team with a 7-5/8-4 or even similar record. It really just depends on what the conference tie-ins are or if therer's enough supply of invites.
 



It won't happen this year with OSU and PSU inelligible but a few years ago didn't someone get left out of a bowl game at 6-6 from the conference because we had 10 eligible teams. I want to say it was Northwestern but I could definitely be wrong on that.
 

Indiana & Purdue have 5 losses, meaning they each have to go 3-1 to be eligible. Illinois has to go 4-0.

There might only be 7 bowl eligible teams in the Big Ten.
 

Iowa may be challenged to get bowl eligible if you look at their upcoming games.
Indiana can score some points, they can win 3 of their next 4. Wi and Iowa struggle putting up points and Purdue is in free fall.
 

The Big Ten has two teams that are inelligible. so we're down to 10 teams right there.

Nebraska, Wisconsin and Northwestern are already bowl elligible. That leaves us with 5 bowl spots for seven teams. Illinois is on the ropes, one more loss and they aren't going bowling. If we finish 6-6, it is most likely because we beat Illinois. Illinois pays @OSU, Minnesota, Purdue and @Northwestern.

Indiana and Purdue have their backs to the wall, they need to win 3 of 4, and they play each other. Indiana plays Iowa, Wisconsin, @PSU, @Purdue. Purdue plays PSU, @Iowa, @Illinois, Indiana.

Michigan and Michigan State need one more game to get to bowl eligibility. Michigan plays @MN, Northwesterm, Iowa, @OSU. Michigan State plays Nebraska, Northwestern, @MN. It's possibly that MSU could be playing for bowl elligibility when the come to TCF.

Iowa needs to win 2 of 4. They play @Indiana, Purdue, @Michigan, Nebraska. If they don't win against both Indiana and Purdue, they may have a tough time getting to 6 wins.

If we can win just one more game, we are nearly certain to go to a bowl game.
 



I second the motion that we win at least 3 or 4 more games to get to a better bowl. Why not, if we get on a role we can compete with all of the remaining opponents on our schedule even Nebraska. We for sure should be in the Michigan, Illinois and Michigan State games. The only real troublesome game from a match up stand point is the Nebraska road game.
 

MNVCGUY said:
It won't happen this year with OSU and PSU inelligible but a few years ago didn't someone get left out of a bowl game at 6-6 from the conference because we had 10 eligible teams. I want to say it was Northwestern but I could definitely be wrong on that.
Click to expand...

Iowa was left out at 6-6 in 2007. The Gophers were the only ineligible team in the league that year.

As others have stated, there is no chance a six-win Gophers team would miss a bowl game this year. In fact, there's a possibility the Big Ten will only get five eligible teams, meaning Minnesota would slip no further than a return to Tempe for the recently-renamed Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. More likely, there will be six or seven teams eligible, so winning out is probably the only way the Gophers would get to a game any higher in the pecking order.
 

Plan on either Meineke Car Care Bowl in Houston or Ticket City bowl, or whatever it's called in Dallas if we r bowl eligible.
 

MNVCGUY said:
It won't happen this year with OSU and PSU inelligible but a few years ago didn't someone get left out of a bowl game at 6-6 from the conference because we had 10 eligible teams. I want to say it was Northwestern but I could definitely be wrong on that.
Click to expand...

In 2007 both Iowa and Northwestern finished 6-6 and both were left out of bowls. The B1G apparently had only 7 tie ins at that point and even though we had 2 BCS teams, there were 10 bowl eligible teams so both the 6-6 teams were left out. Doesn't seem like that would happen these days because there have usually been at large spots available in lower bowls that would love to take a B1G team even at 6-6.
 

Catechol said:
In 2007 both Iowa and Northwestern finished 6-6 and both were left out of bowls. The B1G apparently had only 7 tie ins at that point and even though we had 2 BCS teams, there were 10 bowl eligible teams so both the 6-6 teams were left out. Doesn't seem like that would happen these days because there have usually been at large spots available in lower bowls that would love to take a B1G team even at 6-6.
Click to expand...

In 2007 which bowls HAD to select a 7 win teams over 6 win teams (which is no longer the case), I believe.
 

Ohio State,out. Penn State, out. Purdue won't get to 6, out. Illinois won't get to 6, out. Ioweeeee is at 4 wins. They have Indiana and Purdue. They also play Mich. and Neb. They have no room for any more upsets. Indiana questionable if they will get to 6, can't rule them out though. I think the team that wins the Ioweee vs Indiana game will get to 6 wins, the other will not. What I am saying is if we get to 6, there in NO way we don't go to a bowl. Even if it is the one in Detroit, it still gives us many extra practice sessions. That will mean a lot to this young team down the road.
 

Buck_Buchanan said:
In 2007 which bowls HAD to select a 7 win teams over 6 win teams (which is no longer the case), I believe.
Click to expand...

I knew there was a year this came into play just didn't go back far enough. I think it might have been At Large bowls had to select teams with 7 wins over teams with 6 because both MSU and Indiana finished 7-6 that year which means they were 6-6 at the end of the regular season but still went to bowls.
 

Six wins will clinch a bowl bid if Illinois loses one of their final four games and Purdue loses one of their next three games and if Indiana loses one of their next three games. That isn't thee only possibility, Iowa needs to to 2-2 to become bowl elligible.

And even in the very unlikely event that more than eight teams are eligible, the Gophers chances are decent of getting a bowl.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I knew there was a year this came into play just didn't go back far enough. I think it might have been At Large bowls had to select teams with 7 wins over teams with 6 because both MSU and Indiana finished 7-6 that year which means they were 6-6 at the end of the regular season but still went to bowls.
Click to expand...

According to Wikipedia (without a citation) it was prior to 2010 that at large bids had to be given to teams with winning records over 6-6 teams.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_bids_to_college_bowl_games

I can't imagine an eligible B1G team sitting home now.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom