MUTS, UNT in bowl chase

Harry · October 25, 2012

MURFREESBORO — Think October is too early to be chasing a bowl bid?

MUTS and North Texas know differently, as they will face off in Saturday’s Blackout game with potential postseason ramifications.

Aside from the Sun Belt Conference race, where both teams have a 2-1 league record, the overall wins total is becoming important for each school.

MUTS has four wins with five games remaining. North Texas touts three victories with five games ahead. Teams become bowl eligible at six wins, and there are no gimmes on either schedule.

“This is a critical game for both teams,” MUTS coach Rick Stockstill said. “For us, this is big to keep us in the hunt for the conference championship. It’s big to keep us in the mix for bowl eligibility. When you only have two bowl slots guaranteed (in the Sun Belt) and you’ve got four teams with four wins, every game is magnified that much more.”

The New Orleans Bowl and GoDaddy.com Bowl are the only contracted spots to Sun Belt teams, but other at-large bids should come open. Bowls are likely to scramble for teams to fill slots, as Ohio State, Penn State and North Carolina have bowl bans and other conferences are projected to have trouble filling their automatic bids.

Read more: http://www.dnj.com/article/20121024/BLUERAIDERS01/310240013/MTSU-UNT-bowl-chase