[NU Sports] Standings/Bowl eligibility

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

> I think this means the following:
> 
> 1. Penn State (assuming a victory next week)
> 2. Ohio State (assuming a victory next week)
> 3. Wisconsin (5-3/9-3) (assuming a victory in
> Hawaii)
> 3. Michigan (5-3/7-4)
> 3. Northwestern (5-3/7-4)
> 3. Iowa (5-3/7-4)(assuming a victory next week)
> 3. Minnesota (5-3/7-4) (assuming a loss next week)
> 4. Purdue (3-5/5-6)(assuming they beat Indiana next
> week)
> 5. Michigan State (2-6/5-6)
> 6. Indiana (1-7/4-7)
> 7. Illinois (0-8/2-9)
> 
Seems correct to me - and a tie for third in the
league after finishing fourth last year would be
wonderful!:)

It also would mean that -- according to Mark Murphy's
e-mail about the 1-game leeway overall for bowls to
select teams, that pretty much anything goes after PSU
and OSU find their bowl destinations, since all the
rest would have 3 or 4 losses.

I really think the events later today helped our
chances for two BCS teams. Georgia's loss all but
eliminates them unless they win the SEC title game.
And Bama's so banged up (and Auburn so hot) that it's
tough to see the Tide winning at Jordan-Hare next
week. So if LSU wins out and takes the SEC title,
it'll be tough for that league to get a second BCS
team.

So it would essentially come down to the Fiesta
deciding who they wanted to take against Notre Dame --
VaTech, Oregon or Ohio State and I think the Big Ten
wins that battle every time, and given OSU's history
in Tempe and their midwest rivalry with the Irish,
it'd be a great matchup. Certainly more appealing than
Irish-Hokies or Irish-Ducks.

As for our game, I still think Nashville looks most
likely no matter if we get the BCS bid or not. The
Cats and Minnesota will likely be the last two teams
in Big Ten pecking order and the bowl reps will talk
and work something out to try and avoid repeat
appearances (bowl fans don't tend to travel well to
the same spot two straight years unless it's
Pasadena:) ). So since Minny went to Nashville last
year, I think we're in. Either Minny to El Paso and us
to Nashville if OSU gets a bid, or NU to Nashville and
Minny to Detroit.

Although El Paso would be a somewhat easy drive from
Phoenix:), the matchup against either UCLA or Oregon
would be tough (though Tennessee in their home state
wouldn't be a cakewalk either!) and I think Cats fans
would enjoy a trip to the Music City better than El
Paso.

But we'll see how it shakes out. Good to have this
talk again in mid-November. All we can do is go out
and make our case next week by stomping the rival
Illini!

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

* * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!!


		
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