[NU Sports] Penn State and Bowl hopes

[Jonathan Hodges]

Note that the Champs Sports Bowl (Orlando) picks ahead of the Alamo and
behind the Outback Bowls this year.  Otherwise, your bowl pick order is
correct.

That's also assuming that all of the teams win the games that they are
supposed to win, and as we've already seen, that's a big jump.  It's still
early to start making huge assumptions (although NU at 6-6 is a fairly safe
bet), since big Iowa @ OSU and OSU @ PSU games are still left on the slate.

Finally, keep in mind that last year just 4 bowl eligible teams in FBS/I-A
were left at home: Bowling Green, San Jose State, Louisiana-Lafayette, and
Arkansas State.  All bowl eligible teams from BCS conferences got to go
somewhere.  There are 34 bowl games (68 spots) this year.  As of today,
there are 74 teams with .500 or better records in FBS/I-A.  That means even
if NU ends up 6-6 and the Big Ten doesn't get a second BCS berth, there
could still be an open spot somewhere.

But I wouldn't start getting too worked up until NU does lock up that 6th
win and we have a better idea how the rest of the conference is doing,
especially with some big games coming up as well as some games between teams
in the middle that will help thin out the herd (6 Big Ten teams have either
4 or 5 wins right now and nobody has technically been eliminated from bowl
contention yet).

Jonathan

On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 3:55 PM, <cherron604 at aol.com> wrote:

>
> Saw that this weeks game is opening at 13.5, that seems a little low.
>  Also, unless we can pull off a major upset either hosting Penn State or
> hosting Wisconsin, It looks like we are destined to spend Saturday, December
> 26 in Detroit (or at least from 1 to 4 pm).  Has this game typically been a
> day game ?
>
> I'm assuming
>
> Iowa           12-0  BCS-1
> Penn State  11-1 BCS-2
> Wisconsin   10-2 Citrus (or whatever they call it now)
> Ohio State    8-4  Outback
> Michigan      7-5  Alamo
> Michigan St  7-5  Tempe
> Minnesota    6-6  Champs
> NU               6-6   Detroit
>
> I'd love Tempe or Orlando #2, but without the upsets, I don't see any
> possibility.  Not even a shot at an exotic wildcard berth - Indiana, Purdue
> and Illinois won't reach 6.  Does anybody think that we might beat out the
> Gophers for the 6th Big Ten Bowl ?  Or does 20,000 attendance make that
> impossible ?
>
> Well at least the travel might work out ok - flights to Detroit should be
> light on Christmas night, and return flights shouldn't be bad on a Saturday
> night.
>
> I really wish we'd drop this Detroit bowl - most don't want to attend at
> all, and those that do will probably spend about 24 hours in Detroit, maybe
> one hotel night and 2 meals.
>
> Another sad fact is that had we gone 9-3 this year, like last year, we
> probably would have been bumped down below the two 7-5 teams, and fallen to
> the Champs bowl instead of the Alamo.
>
> Chuck Herron   Tech '85
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