Hit 6 Count

UNT86 · November 20, 2016

By my count there are 64 teams that are currently bowl eligible (Army has 6 wins, but two vs. FCS)

There are 18 teams left that have a chance to hit 6 wins.

It doesn't look good for So Miss, N.C. St, U-La-La, Vandy, and SMU.

If just those 5 lose, that would make 77 teams with 6 wins.

We are currently 5th among teams with only 5 wins. Northwestern is favored by 14 this week. Duke is a 14 point underdog.

I see where we are 1 point favorites, but it looks good for us either way!

Go Mean Green! Beat UTEP!

Cerebus · November 20, 2016

34 minutes ago, Cerebus said:

11/20/2016 Update

First a few definitions.

A bowl eligible team is one that has six wins, with no more than one of them being against an FCS level team.

An APR eligible team is one that has five wins, and can file for an APR exemption to a bowl game because of their academic score.

There are currently 64 bowl eligible teams:

American (7): Central Florida, Houston, Memphis, Navy, South Florida, Temple, Tulsa

ACC (9): Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami (FL), North Carolina, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest

Big Ten (7): Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin

Big 12 (5): Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, West Virginia

Conference USA (4): Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion, Western Kentucky

Independent (1): BYU

MAC (5): Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan, Ohio, Toledo, Western Michigan

Mountain West (6): Air Force, Boise State, Colorado State, New Mexico, San Diego State, Wyoming

Pac-12 (6): Colorado, Stanford, USC, Utah, Washington, Washington State

SEC (10): Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M

Sun Belt (4): Appalachian State, Arkansas State, Idaho, Troy

There are currently 18 teams who are one win away from bowl eligibility:

American (1): SMU,

ACC (2): NC State, Boston College

Big Ten (3): Indiana, Maryland, Northwestern

Big 12 (2): TCU*, Texas

Conference USA (3): UTSA, North Texas, USM

Independent (1): Army

MAC (2): Miami (OH), Akron

Mountain West (0):

Pac-12 (1): Arizona St.

SEC (2): Vanderbilt, Ole Miss

Sun Belt (1): USA*

* TCU and USA have two games left to get to 6 wins.

So the number of bowl eligible teams will be:

(64 currently bowl eligible teams) + ( Whichever of the above 18 teams can get to 6 wins)

Depending on whose projections you believe, that could leave as few as 71 or as many as 75 bowl eligible teams. Looking at the schedule I think TCU, UTSA, (North Texas), Miami OH, Arizona St, Ole Miss, and South Alabama get there. That would mean, counting a win at UTEP, there would be 9 APR slots.

Imagine, instead that we lost @UTEP, and someone else won. We would be sitting at 5-7, and ranked fourth in APR among schools without 6 wins, but there would be 9 slots for APR teams. That means even if Duke wins and NW, and Army win and Vandy loses there will still be enough APR slots for us. In other words barring some major insanity next weekend we are RIGHT NOW assured of a bowl slot.

I of course would prefer to beat UTEP and get in the old fashioned way, but this is still a big accomplishment.

As far as where we end up, it's more than likely that we end up in one of the CUSA contracted bowls. We have six slots and there is very little chance we get to 7 bowl eligible teams. That would require USM beating LaTech.

In the past CUSA has traded the Hawaii bowl slot to a team in the western half of the country in order to get one of its eastern teams a closer bowl slot. I don't see that happening this year.

I don't think the B10 will be able to send a team to the Heart of Dallas bowl, and the B12 will not be able to either. The SEC has 10 bowl slots, but will put Alabama in the CFP at least. If Vandy and Ole Miss can become bowl eligible, and Alabama is the only SEC team in the CFP they will have one extra team to place. Maybe the Heart of Dallas bowl can lure them? The only real hope I see of the conference having a P5 opponent in that game is if we can convince an ACC team. That game will go to WKU or LaTech either way.

Most likely destinations for us then are:

New Mexico

Hawaii

Bahamas

CUSA champ will want the HoD, New Orleans is a great place to visit, Boca gets you in front of Florida recruits.