Who do we cheer for?

[Cloned92]

So who do we root for/against the next two weeks in order to give ISU the best bowl opportunities. Clearly we don't want Texas to become eligible. Do we root for nebraska and then hope they get upset in the big 12 championship with the hope that the big 12 could have two teams heading to a BCS bowl?

Obviously we need to beat Colorado, and a win vs Misery would also be very helpful.

 

[PaulSTI]

So who do we root for/against the next two weeks in order to give ISU the best bowl opportunities. Clearly we don't want Texas to become eligible. Do we root for nebraska and then hope they get upset in the big 12 championship with the hope that the big 12 could have two teams heading to a BCS bowl?

Obviously we need to beat Colorado, and a win vs Misery would also be very helpful.

This is something I've been thinking about writing a blog on this week over at clone chronicles. I think that it's going to end up being complex though...

Bottom line, you're right that we need to try and win both of our remaining games from a bowl invitation standpoint.

 

[pyrocyz]

IOWA STATE!!!!

once we get to 6 then I will start to worry about bowls.

 

[MNCyGuy]

Big XII will not get two BCS invites this year, regardless of how the title game shapes out.

 

[Al_4_State]

Big XII will not get two BCS invites this year, regardless of how the title game shapes out.

A 2 loss Nebraska absolutely goes to a BCS game.

 

[Cloned92]

The fact that there are several bowls in Texas and several Texas teams that will be eligible really makes things interesting in terms of trying predict what bowls everyone will get. It would be highly unlikely for the Texas bowls to pass on a Texas team.

 

[Clones33]

A 2 loss Nebraska absolutely goes to a BCS game.

Disagree. Very possible that the Big XII only gets 1 team in.

(1) #1 - Oregon
(2) #2 - Auburn
(3) ACC Champ - VT
(4) Big East Champ - FSU
(5) Big XII Champ - Oklahoma or Oklahoma State if Nebraska doesn't win
(6) Big Ten Champ - Ohio State
(7) Pac-10 Replacement - Stanford
(8) SEC Replacement - 2 loss Alabama or 1/2 loss LSU
(9) TCU
(10) Boise State
(11) Wisconsin - if they finish with 1 loss
(12) Michigan State - if they finish with 1 loss
(13) Nebraska - if they finish with 2 losses

I think it is more likely the BigXII only gets 1 team in the BCS than any other scenario.

Regarding who we cheer for - I know as a fan it isn't my job to be prepared to play on Saturdays, but I have been saying all year that we can't count the Colorado game as a gimmie. I don't care that they just fired their coach, ISU has NEVER performed will in Boulder - in either sport. Let's get to 6 and then figure out where the chips will fall.

Also, if we do get to 6, we WILL go to a bowl. It might not be tied to the BigXII, but we will go to A bowl.

 

[rebecacy]

Disagree. Very possible that the Big XII only gets 1 team in.

(1) #1 - Oregon
(2) #2 - Auburn
(3) ACC Champ - VT
(4) Big East Champ - FSU
(5) Big XII Champ - Oklahoma or Oklahoma State if Nebraska doesn't win
(6) Big Ten Champ - Ohio State
(7) Pac-10 Replacement - Stanford
(8) SEC Replacement - 2 loss Alabama or 1/2 loss LSU
(9) TCU
(10) Boise State
(11) Wisconsin - if they finish with 1 loss
(12) Michigan State - if they finish with 1 loss
(13) Nebraska - if they finish with 2 losses

I think it is more likely the BigXII only gets 1 team in the BCS than any other scenario.

Regarding who we cheer for - I know as a fan it isn't my job to be prepared to play on Saturdays, but I have been saying all year that we can't count the Colorado game as a gimmie. I don't care that they just fired their coach, ISU has NEVER performed will in Boulder - in either sport. Let's get to 6 and then figure out where the chips will fall.

Also, if we do get to 6, we WILL go to a bowl. It might not be tied to the BigXII, but we will go to A bowl.

I thought I read somewhere that you cannot have 3 teams from the same conference in the BCS bowls?? If so, one big 10 team is out which would put a two loss NU in.

 

[Clones33]

I thought I read somewhere that you cannot have 3 teams from the same conference in the BCS bowls?? If so, one big 10 team is out which would put a two loss NU in.

Right, but there are only 10 slots. Guess I should have put them on the same line, but the point stands that any 2 loss BigXII team is on the outside looking in as of this moment. However, if there is one thing I've learned watching college football in the BCS era - anything can and most likely will happen in the final month.

 

[rebecacy]

Right, but there are only 10 slots. Guess I should have put them on the same line, but the point stands that any 2 loss BigXII team is on the outside looking in as of this moment. However, if there is one thing I've learned watching college football in the BCS era - anything can and most likely will happen in the final month.

Your right I was thinking 12 slots........duh!!

 

[Clones33]

SI.com's Stewart Mandel talks a lot about the BCS projections. Here is his most recent article:

TCU, Boise State suddenly have BCS title game within arm's reach - Stewart Mandel - SI.com

This is probably better suited for a thread of its own, but the point I was trying to make was that I doubt the BigXII gets two teams into the BCS. Even with this, if ISU gets to 6 wins we WILL go to a bowl.

 

[ahaselhu]

Right, but there are only 10 slots. Guess I should have put them on the same line, but the point stands that any 2 loss BigXII team is on the outside looking in as of this moment. However, if there is one thing I've learned watching college football in the BCS era - anything can and most likely will happen in the final month.

Michigan State with 1 loss still ranks below Nebraska with 2 losses, as long as Nebraska is eligible for at-large BCS selection. Michigan State does not travel well.

Wisconsin is likely to win the Big 10. They have Indiana, @Michigan, and Northwestern left. Most likely will win all three.

It's a moot point however. I don't see any likely scenario where there is room for another Big XII team.

 

[bgprest]

One thing I've been wondering...

Does that fake PAT attempt in the Nebraska game help us with getting a better bowl. Obviously if we'd made it we'd already be bowl elgible. But does the fact that we have a strong and exciting fight to win mentality and an incredibly dynamic coach help us get a better bowl in any way.

I'm hoping we'll get the Dallas Football Classic Bowl which would be a local bowl for me living right here in Dallas (Plano).

Also, given we come through with wins on our final two games for 7 total wins, what kind of bowl will we be able to get?

 

[cyclonepower]

Cheer against Tech, Texas, any BCS school closing in on 6 wins, any other mid major school closing in on 7 wins

 

[cloneu]

ISU winning the last 2 games would be the best senario. The next best case in my kool-aid mind is taking a Pac 10 bowl. The Pac-10 already has 2 teams not going to bowl games, and another 4 that are at 4 wins or less. If everything plays out right the Pac-10 could have only 4 teams become bowl eligible. If Stanford and Oregon make BCS bowl games, then the Pac 10 will not fill the Sun, MAACO, and Kraft bowls.

There will probably be 2-3 BCS teams with 6 wins that won't make one of their own conference tie in bowls. Any good non-BCS team will already have a conference bowl tie in, so they will need to take one of the BCS leftover teams. I could be wrong on how the bowls pick teams when they don't have enough from their own conference, no clue how that works.

Here is the remaining schedules for some of the Pac 10 teams:

UCLA (4-5) - @ Washington, Arizona St., USC
Arizona St (4-5) - Stanford, UCLA, @Arizona
Oregon St. (4-4) - Washington St, USC, @Stanford, Oregon
Washington (3-6) - UCLA, @Cal, @Washington St
Cal (5-4) - Oregon, Stanford, @Washington

We wouldn't go to the MAACO bowl as Utah will be in that one. My bet would be the Pac 10 has 5 bowl eligible teams and Iowa St goes to the Kraft bowl.

 

[CycloneJames]

Michigan State with 1 loss still ranks below Nebraska with 2 losses, as long as Nebraska is eligible for at-large BCS selection. Michigan State does not travel well.

Wisconsin is likely to win the Big 10. They have Indiana, @Michigan, and Northwestern left. Most likely will win all three.

It's a moot point however. I don't see any likely scenario where there is room for another Big XII team.

I thought Michigan St was the odds on favorite to win the Big 10. They should win the remainder of their games and they own the tiebreaker over Wisc (head to head win) and haven't been to the Rose Bowl the longest. I thought as long as they win out they will be in the Rose Bowl, regardless of how well they travel.

Overall, I agree that there probably is not going to be another Big 12 team in the BCS.

 

[cyhiphopp]

Ok, so back to the original topic, who do we want to win in the Big12?

In the North, NU, MU and KSU are all at 6 or more wins and eligible.
WHEN ISU beats CU, CU will be at 7 losses.
KU is 3-6 so only has to lose one more to NU, MU, or OSU who are all bowl eligible and ranked.

So, from the North, the following should all be bowl eligible by the end of the season:
NU
MU
KSU
ISU

In the South, OSU, Baylor, A&M, and OU all have 6+ wins
TTU is at 5-4 and UT is at 4-5.
TTU has OU, Weber State!!!, and Houston left on the schedule. I have a feeling TTU will take care of Weber State so they will get to 6 wins minimum.
UT has has OSU, Florida Atlantic!!!, and A&M left. We need to hope they lose to OSU and A&M and don't become eligible. I am more than a little afraid that OSU or A&M will blow it.

So from the South, the following should all be bowl eligible:
OSU
Baylor
A&M
OU
TTU


That give us 8 pretty much for sure eligible teams with Texas close behind.

 

[cyhiphopp]

Also in the Big 12, we want all of the teams with 6 wins to stay at 6 wins.

KSU is 6-3, but has MU, CU, and North Texas!!! left so they may even get to 8 wins before the end of the season. That hurts as ISU would probably get picked over a 6 with KSU.
A&M is 6-3 but has BU, NU, and Texas left. We want them to beat Texas at least so they will have 7 wins at the end of the year.

Unfotunately, I don't see ISU at 6-6 getting picked over any 7 win teams this year. Hopefully we can get to 7 wins too (and Texas loses 2 more games. Go Cowboys and Aggies!!)

 

[CycloneJames]

Is there a rule where a 7-5 team has to be picked before a 6-6 team? I know we skipped over some teams last year but I don't think the Big 12 had too many teams eligible. If we won our last two games and someone in the conference was at 6-6, would we be garunteed a big 12 bowl and the 6-6 team would get the New Mexico bowl or some other non Big 12 bowl?

 

[Judoka]

Is there a rule where a 7-5 team has to be picked before a 6-6 team? I know we skipped over some teams last year but I don't think the Big 12 had too many teams eligible. If we won our last two games and someone in the conference was at 6-6, would we be garunteed a big 12 bowl and the 6-6 team would get the New Mexico bowl or some other non Big 12 bowl?

My understanding is that only applies to bowls that can't fill their conference obligations. In other words a 6-6 ISU can skip over an 8-4 Mizzu for a Big 12 Bowl, but a 6-6 ISU can't skip over a 7-5 UTEP for the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.