Desired bowl situation?

[ULtimateCajun]

correct me if im wrong but NIU is in the top 15 of the bcs polls....if they remain in the top 15 they will go to a bcs bowl...similar to there circumstances last season. with that said, why is NIU even being mentioned for mobile? Are we assuming that NIU will lose?

[VObserver]

correct me if im wrong but NIU is in the top 15 of the bcs polls....if they remain in the top 15 they will go to a bcs bowl...similar to there circumstances last season. with that said, why is NIU even being mentioned for mobile? Are we assuming that NIU will lose?

No, we are assuming that Fresno doesn't lose. Fresno is above NIU in the BCS.

[kelbow7]

No, we are assuming that Fresno doesn't lose. Fresno is above NIU in the BCS.

Also assuming that UCF or Louisville stays out of the top 16.

[covcaj]

Would somebody please present me with a SPECIFIC scenario where a BCS conference school would ever play in a bowl other than one with which the conference has a contract? In at least some years the BCS conferences don't have enough qualifying teams. Also, in what bowl could Louisiana play a BCS conference team? Does Louisiana even have the option of refusing NO bowl or godaddy if invited by one of those bowls? Aren't we contractually obligated to play in one of those if invited?

Well, to backtrack a bit, I guess you have to look at the entire picture. After a while, as great as going to NOLA is, the luster will where off if we are playing the likes of NT and MTSU every year who used to be conference mates. Take that and compare it with a matchup against say, a 6-6 Florida team or a team of good prestige who had a pretty rough year and the matchup would really make me want to think of possibly going to Mobile or somewhere comparable for a great matchup and opportunity to knock of a well known program.

[cajunhawk]

2011 Liberty Bowl comes to mind.

[covcaj]

True, but he Big East was the alternate conference for the bowl. They went instead of Conference USA, but that was a contract in place. I'm trying to figure out a way that, say an SEC team, could ever go to the godaddy or similar bowl where there is not at least an alternate agreement....

2011 Liberty Bowl comes to mind.

[Boomer]

Houston is no longer in CUSA. They are in the AAC.

FYI, the MAC champion alternates each year between Little Caesars and godaddy. The champ is headed to godaddy this year from what I understand....of course if NIU makes a BCS bowl this is a moot point. NIU has a huge game Wednesday night against one loss Ball State (undefeated in the MAC).

----And guess who beat Ball STATE??? The team we could easily wind up playing in the N O BOWL!!! Not the Greenies but the green meanies!!!

[SlickRick]

It's an advantage. They're staggered. Football fans will be more likely to pay attention, tune in, and roll from game to game. If we were alone on that day, many football fans might not even realize it's a "bowl day".

...its also a prime time game in the evening. IMO, more folks will likely watch this game than the afternoon games.

[SlickRick]

Or maybe Billy Ferrante and the NOLA Bowl folks need to start working some deals to ensure they get a better opponent to play us in NOLA rather than one of those teams. I bet NIU people would rather travel to NOLA before Christmas than to Mobile in January

Good idea, but can they contractually exclude a CUSA team?

[RaginDave]

Could be an interesting bowl season, traditionally there are barely enough bowl eligible teams to go around, and usually 1-3 teams stay at home. But this year with 35 bowl games (70) teams, already 56 teams are bowl eligible and only 30 are already out of contention, this means that out of 124 bowl teams, 38 are mathematically still chasing the dream of a bowl. That being said, I think there will be plenty of bowl eligible teams staying home this year, you could have as many as 80 teams become bowl eligible for 70 spots. It will be interesting to see who gets left out this year, last year we were very close (in either proximity or conference mates) to a couple of the teams that were left out (La Tech and WKU). I think a conference mate or two could be left out again. I truly believe with ULM's terrible showing both onthe the field and fan support, unless they win out, they are going to be staying at home as well and I don't see them winning out.

[SlickRick]

I'm looking forward to Nov 30th. We'll be fully rested and hopefully healthier!

[MelRock]

Riddle me this why would the Sun Belt want us to go to the GoDaddy.com Bowl when that stadium only holds 40,000. The Sun Belt gains nothing by us going there, now convincing NIU to come to New Orleans where the stadium can hold 60K+ is a win for both NIU, MAC and the Sun Belt. With the extra ticket sales they could help out the GoDaddy.com Bowl.