The Bowling Season Cometh

There are 35 College Football Bowls…which require 70 teams to fill the spots and for a team to be eligible to fill one of those slots … it must have 6 wins …. if you play an 11 or 12 game schedule! One of the six wins can be against an FCS  opponent (a 63 scholarship program as opposed to FBS programs …. which must give 85 scholarships) ….  That said …. you cannot count two FCS wins toward the six …  in other words … if you play 2 FCS teams… only one can count toward your required 6 wins to become bowl eligible! Their are currently 124 teams playing football in the FBS …so lets see how many teams have the needed number of wins. I will present the data by reviewing each of the 11 conferences in the FBS and the four Independents!

SEC: 8 teams are currently bowl eligible … LSU, Alabama, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, & Vanderbilt! Three teams can become Bowl eligible with wins next week: Missouri, Arkansas, & Ole Miss and 3 teams have lost 7 games and will not be bowling in 2012….. Tennessee, Kentucky, & Auburn. Just so you know…. the SEC is serious about winning…two of the three head coaches, whose teams did not qualify for a bowl …  have already been fired … (Derek Dooley @ UT & Joker Phillips @ UK…. are gone and Gene Chizik’s, Auburn’s Head Man, seat is hot… real hot!

Big Ten: 5 teams are have earned post season play … Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan, Northwestern, & Minnesota! While with wins this weekend … Michigan State & Purdue can become eligible! Iowa, Illinois, & Indiana have all lost at least 7 games  & as you know …. Penn State and Ohio State are out….. due to NCAA sanctions! The Big Ten for the first time … will place only one team in a BCS Bowl! This will cost the conference about 17 million dollars! Clearly … not “Chump Change”!!!

Big 12: 7 teams are ready to roll … Oklahoma, Texas, Oklahoma State, TCU, Kansas State, Iowa State, & Texas Tech! 2 teams have a chance … West Virginia & Baylor … they need one more win to get the required six victories… Kansas is the only Big 12 team that does not have a shot!

ACC: 7 teams are in … Florida State, Clemson, NC State, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Miami, & Duke! One team needs one more win … Va Tech … while Boston College, Maryland, & Virginia do not have enough wins …. & North Carolina is out … due to NCAA sanctions!

PAC 12: 8 clubs have met the criteria and are eligible…. USC, UCLA, Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, & Washington. Four teams are out…. Washington State, Utah, Colorado, & California! Unlike the other leagues, all of the PAC 12 team’s post-season status’ have been determined! Eight are in … & … four are out!

Big East: 4 teams are in …. Louisville, Rutgers, Syracuse, & Cincinnati … 2 teams have a shot … Pittsburgh & U-Conn … but must win their final two games ….. While South Florida & Temple will be @ home for the bowling season!

Independents:  3 teams …. ND, BYU & Navy will be playing somewhere … while Army will be on leave during the Post-Season!!

Mountain West Conference: 5 teams are in … Boise State, Nevada, Fresno State, Air Force, & San Diego State … while Wyoming, Colorado State, Hawaii, UNLV, & New Mexico are out … the MWC’s post season is determined …. nothing is left to decide … they are in or out as of 11/17/12…

Conference USA: 4 teams have qualified … Rice, Central Florida, East Carolina, & Tulsa … 2 teams have a shot but need to win their last game … Marshall & SMU … while 6 teams are out of the Post season … Southern Miss, UAB, Memphis, Houston, UTEP, & Tulane!

MAC: 6 teams from the Mid-American are in … Northern Illinois, Toledo, Ball State, Ohio, Bowling Green, & Kent State! One team has a chance if it can win its last game … Central Michigan, and 6 teams are out … Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Miami, Buffalo, Akron, & U-Mass!

WAC:  3 teams are in….The Western Athletic Conference will be dissolving after the 2012 season … they currently have only 7 teams in their league and two are leaving for the Sun Belt Conference next season! 3 teams are in the post-season … Louisiana Tech, Utah State, & San Jose State … while four are out … Idaho, New Mexico State, Texas State, University of Texas @ San Antonio!

Sun Belt Conference: 5 teams have qualified … Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana Monroe, Western Kentucky, Arkansas State, & Middle Tennessee State … Troy needs one more win … and 4 teams are out … Florida International, Florida Atlantic, North Texas & South Alabama!

So… as of 11-17-12 ….  we have 64 teams that have reached the magic number of six wins (SEC: 8, Big Ten: 5, Big 12: 7, ACC: 7, PAC 12: 8, Big East: 3, Independents: 3, MWC: 5, C-USA: 4, MAC 6, WAC: 3, SBC: 5)  … There are another 14 teams (SEC: 3, Big Ten: 2, Big 12: 2, ACC: 1, PAC 12: 0, Big East: 2, Independents: 0, MWC: 0, C-USA: 2, MAC: 1, WAC: 0, SBC: 1)   that need one or two more wins to become bowl eligible ….  To fill each of the 70 spots we need six of the remaining 14 teams to reach their sixth win of the season…. check on the site’s… Team or Conference pages for more information re: who they have to beat? … are they @ home or on the road? and the win/loss history with that team since 2009?