[NU Sports] Bowl eligibility (fwd)

[Mike Nolan]

> But it's over now ... it doesn't sting as much and I can appreciate the
> season as a whole better now. I am glad to hear that we at least asked for
> the NCAA exception though, because I think we had a good case and I'd have
> hated to have not tried all avenues to get Noah, Luis and the other
> seniors an extra game to shine.

I guess you weren't one of those moaning about Iowa State applying for
a waiver before it became moot after they failed to punch their ticket 
to the Big XII Championship game.  :-)

Had this been a 12 game season for all schools, the Cats would have been
bowl-eligible.  I doubt that's lost on the Big 10 conference.

I still expect the NCAA to change the rules so that every year is
a 12 game year, for which a 6-6 record has already been defined
as bowl-eligible.

I don't think it's on the agenda for this spring's meetings, but since
I think 2005 is also an 11 game season I expect that the financial pressure
to change the rules will start to build by fall.  Not every school gets a 
big payday out of that 12th game (Northwestern probably does not), but 
I figure the 1-A schools are collectively leaving over $50 million on 
the table in an 11 game season by not having that 12th game.
--
Mike Nolan