With wisconsin asserting that it’s the front-runner in the Big Ten West unless Nebraska finds a way to beat Ohio State next Saturday, we’ve got a shake-up in the Big Ten bowl picture!
A few notes before we get into it:
- Read up on the Citrus Bowl selection process and tell me if I’m crazy (I’m not). A Big Ten-ACC matchup in the Orange Bowl (which takes the highest CFP-rated team of the B1G, SEC, and Notre Dame left) means the ACC gets the Big Ten’s Citrus Bowl slot. As a result, everyone drops a spot in the Big Ten despite the status quo holding. This works out poorest for Nebraska.
- Jerry Palm has three Big Ten teams in the NY6 bowls. I...I just have a hard time thinking that Nebraska stays high enough to make it. That’d be something though, huh? Let’s put a pin in that idea for next week after Nebraska-Ohio State...
- A glut of 7-5/6-6 teams (Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, and Northwestern) along with last year’s placements in the Quick Lane for Minnesota and the Pinstripe for Indiana means that things get weird for everything from Music City on down. Even their Big Ten records don’t really mean anything, save for relegating Maryland to the Quick Lane or Pinstripe.
- Teams with 5-7 records going bowling: Vanderbilt.
- A three-way tie at 8-4 among Colorado, Washington State, and USC means things get weird in the Pac-12.
- Cincinnati is 4-4 and I don’t get where their last two wins are coming from out of BYU, @UCF, Memphis, and @Tulsa. [Not super-relevant, I just don’t get why they’re pretty unanimously still bowling.]
- We’ve got a new G5 team in the CFP! Thanks, Wyoming!
| Bowl | Date | Tie 1 | Tie 2 | Comments | ||
| Cure | 17-Dec | AAC | Central Florida | Sun Belt 4 | Appalachian State | A surprisingly decent game for December 17. |
| Camelia | 17-Dec | MAC 3 | Akron | Sun Belt 3 | South Alabama | No pecking order means a MAC throwaway. The Sun Belt reciprocates. |
| New Orleans | 17-Dec | Sun Belt 1 | Louisiana Lafayette | C-USA | Louisiana Tech | The Cajuns are clawing their way back to New Orleans and unless LaTech wins the C-USA, it's a ticketpalooza. |
| New Mexico | 17-Dec | C-USA | Middle Tennessee State | MWC | New Mexico | A narrow win in Honolulu means the Lobos are looking good to bowl. MTSU escaped FIU and stays put. |
| Las Vegas | 17-Dec | MWC | Boise State | Pac12 6 | California | I'm a little uncertain on MWC selection, so Boise goes here unless it has to be MWC champ SDSU. |
| Miami Beach | 19-Dec | AAC | Houston | MAC | Eastern Michigan | EMU takes on an angry Houston as their reward for a 6-6 season. |
| Boca Raton | 20-Dec | AAC | Memphis | C-USA | Southern Mississippi | |
| Poinsettia | 21-Dec | BYU | BYU | MWC | San Diego State | Poinsettia organizers get an attendance bonanza. |
| Potato | 22-Dec | MAC 2 | Central Michigan | MWC | Wyoming | Wyoming's win over Boise sends the Broncos to Vegas but keeps them close to home. |
| Bahamas | 23-Dec | AAC | Tulsa | MAC | Toledo | The Bahamas Bowl is for high-flying teams. Toledo scores second-most in the MAC. |
| Armed Forces | 23-Dec | Big XII 7-8 | TCU | AAC (Navy) | Navy | A rough bump for the Frogs, but the Texas Bowl lands a bigger fish. |
| Dollar General | 23-Dec | MAC 1 | Ohio | Sun Belt 2 | Troy | A win over Toledo gets Ohio the MAC runner-up nod. |
| Hawaii | 24-Dec | MWC | Hawaii | C-USA | Western Kentucky | |
| Independence | 26-Dec | ACC | Boston College | C-USA/SEC | Vanderbilt** | Commodores move up, somehow, on virtue of being smart, when C-USA can't fill this bowl. The Eagles' win has me believing even 5-7 might work. |
| Quick Lane | 26-Dec | ACC | Army* | B1G 8-9 | Indiana | Army replaces an ACC slot that goes unfilled. Detroit will do just fine for the Hoosiers. |
| St. Petersburg | 26-Dec | ACC | Miami (FL) | AAC | South Florida | And now you've got a potentially excited USF fanbase? |
| Cactus | 27-Dec | Big XII 6 | Kansas State | Pac12 7 | Arizona State | A repeat for ASU, but there's only 1 win on the rest of the schedule. |
| Heart of Dallas | 27-Dec | B1G 8-9 | Maryland | C-USA | Old Dominion | I literally gagged writing this matchup out. |
| Military | 27-Dec | ACC | Air Force* | AAC | Temple | This works out very nicely when the ACC can't fill a bowl. Air Force goes here to avoid a Temple-Army redux. |
| Holiday | 27-Dec | B1G 2-4 | Nebraska | Pac12 3 | Colorado | Would YOU set up this matchup? A three-way tie in the Pac12 at 8-4 means Colorado-Nebraska looks sexy to the Holiday. |
| Russell Athletic | 28-Dec | ACC 2 | Florida State | Big XII 3 | West Virginia | Jumped by Oklahoma State, West-by-God-Virginia heads to the third Big XII slot. |
| Pinstripe | 28-Dec | ACC 3-6 | Pittsburgh | B1G 5-7 | Northwestern | Ugh. But the conference isn't sending Minnesota to New York, so the 'Cats get it. |
| Texas | 28-Dec | Big XII 4 | Baylor | SEC 3-8 | Georgia | I think Baylor comes out on the short end of the OK-WVU-Baylor triangle. |
| Foster Farms | 28-Dec | B1G 5-7 | Minnesota | Pac12 4 | USC | Reading the Citrus Bowl selection process wrong really screwed up the Big Ten bowl order. Sorry. A bad Minnesota team gets to be the sacrificial lamb. |
| Alamo | 29-Dec | Big XII 2 | Oklahoma State | Pac12 2 | Washington State | A Cowboys upset gives them a tiebreaker on WVU, and Wazzu fans get a gift after an 8-4 season. |
| Belk | 29-Dec | ACC 3-6 | Wake Forest | SEC 3-8 | South Carolina | Gross. |
| Birmingham | 29-Dec | AAC | Arkansas State* | SEC 9 | Ole Miss | The Rebels sneak in with an Egg Bowl win. The Red Wolves win 3 of their last 4. |
| Sun | 30-Dec | ACC 3-6 | Georgia Tech | Pac12 5 | Stanford | Stanford looks competent again, Cal stumbled, and ASU is finishing 6-6. |
| Music City | 30-Dec | B1G 5-7 | Iowa | SEC 3-8 | Arkansas | Iowa stays put, and the promise of a BERT reunion remains to good to pass up. |
| Arizona | 30-Dec | MWC | Colorado State | Sun Belt 5 | Idaho | Sure, I guess. It's Idaho or Arkansas State. |
| Liberty | 30-Dec | Big XII 5 | Texas | SEC 3-8 | Kentucky | Texas slots in 5th out of the Big XII. |
| Citrus | 31-Dec | ACC/B1G 2-4 | Virginia Tech | SEC 2 | LSU | A Louisville-Wisconsin Orange Bowl means the ACC gets the Citrus Bowl slot. |
| TaxSlayer | 31-Dec | ACC 3-6 | North Carolina | SEC 3-8 | Tennessee | UT falls but gets a decent bowl somehow. |
| Outback | 2-Jan | B1G 2-4 | Penn State | SEC 3-8 | Florida | Send Penn State out west, or just down south? Blame wisconsin. |
| New Year's Six Bowls | ||||||
| Bowl | Date | Tie 1 | Tie 2 | Comments | ||
| Cotton | 2-Jan | At-Large | Auburn | At-Large | Western Michigan | ROW THE GODDAMN BOAT. 9-3 Auburn sneaks in with a close loss to 'Bama and its other losses to Clemson and A&M. |
| Rose | 2-Jan | B1G 1 | Ohio State | Pac12 1 | Utah | Who does the Rose Bowl want: A Wisconsin team with 2 losses to Michigan, 1 to OSU, and three consecutive at the Rose? Or Ohio State? |
| Sugar | 2-Jan | Big XII 1 | Oklahoma | SEC 1 | Texas A&M | Winner of the Big XII ain't making the playoff; A&M fills the SEC's spot when 'Bama makes the playoff. |
| Orange | 30-Dec | ACC 1 | Louisville | B1G/SEC/ND | Wisconsin | The SEC gets bumped by a surging Wisconsin. |
| College Football Playoff | ||||||
| Bowl | Date | Tie 1 | Tie 2 | Comments | ||
| Fiesta | 31-Dec | CFP2 | Michigan | CFP3 | Clemson | Self-explanatory, no? The best four teams in the nation are the best four in the nation 'til we're proven otherwise. |
| Peach | 31-Dec | CFP1 | Alabama | CFP4 | Washington | The Huskies outlast Utah a second time to win the Pac-12, but 'Bama-Washington still won't even be a contest. |