[NU Sports] Bowl eligible teams

[Mike Nolan]

ESPN has a list of bowl-eligible teams on its website.  There are 64
bowl slots available.  70 teams currently are bowl eligible according to
ESPN, 10 of those are 6-6.  3 are 6-5 with one game left.  Another 4 are 
still on the bubble, meaning they don't have 6 wins yet. 

So it looks like a few 6-6 teams will go bowling this year.

Teams that could still wind up better than 6-6:

UCLA (6-5 with 9-2 USC to go, I heard yesterday that UCLA is not completely
    out of the Rose Bowl picture!)
Cal (6-5 with 3-8 Stanford to go)
Florida Atlantic (6-5 with 8-3 Troy to go)

Of these, I think only Cal will finish better than 6-6, though anything 
can happen in the Cal-Stanford game, as The Play proved.  That would result 
in only 61 teams with a record better than 6-6.

Teams that are currently 6-6:

Maryland, Colorado, Oklahoma State, Iowa, Northwestern, Miami (Ohio), Ohio,
Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana-Monroe.

Teams on the bubble:

Louisville (5-6)
Arizona (5-6)
Louisiana Tech (5-6)
Nevada (5-6)

OK, so I need to pick at least 3 teams to go bowling from the 6-6 list.  
Based on conference tie-ins (see below), Colorado and Oklahoma State will 
both go to bowls, as will Maryland.  UCLA should also go to a bowl even 
if they lose to USC as expected.  Navy is 7-4 with Army left on the 
schedule, but the Middies may not get a bowl invite this year, though 
IMHO they deserve one for if only just for FINALLY beating Notre Dame.

ACC:           8 bowl-eligible teams, 8 tie-ins.  Everybody goes.
Big 12:        8 bowl-eligible teams, 8 tie-ins.  Everybody goes.
Big East:      5 bowl-eligible teams, 5 tie-ins.  Everybody goes.
Big 10:       10 bowl-eligible teams, 7 tie-ins, 2 or 3 teams stay home.
CUSA:          6 bowl-eligible teams, 6 tie-ins, everybody goes.
Independents:  Navy is 7-4, but may stay home.
Mid-American:  5 bowl-eligible teams, 3 tie-ins.  Miami and Ohio stay home.
Mountain West: 5 bowl-eligible teams, 4 tie-ins, TCU will stay home. 
Pac 10:        6 bowl-eligible teams, 6 tie-ins, everybody goes.
SEC:          10 bowl-eligible teams, 8 tie-ins, South Carolina and Alabama may
                 stay home, but I suspect one of them will get an 
                 invitation to a bowl somewhere in the South, probably 
                 South Carolina, though Alabama might be picked as a 
                 better draw.
Sun Belt:      3 bowl-eligible teams, 1 tie-in, only Troy goes.
WAC:           3 bowl-eligible teams, 3 tie-ins.  Hawaii may get a BCS 
                 bid (unless they stumble against Washington), which means 
                 the winner of the Louisiana Tech - Nevada game could go 
                 to a bowl game.

So, Northwestern's and Iowa's chances are pretty much nil even if Ohio
State gets to the NC game, which may seem unlikely but stranger things have
already happened this season.
--
Mike Nolan