MAC and Sun Belt to settle who's last once and for all

So Bowl Season comes to the MAC....and we will once and for all settle the question of our ages....

Who's the lowest conference in the FBS.

Of course, we know that bowl games have spread promiscuously...so much so that any team with one leg and six wins gets invited.

Oh.  Yeah.  Sorry Temple.

Meantime, four MAC teams did get in.  One of them will have what, on paper, appears to be an attractive matchup.  That's NIU heading to the Blue Turf to take on the Fresno State Bulldogs, a very high quality team that always plays a very tough schedule.  Sadly, even that matchup has the potential to be tainted as the Jerry Kill is reportedly leaving DeKalb to coach the Minnesota Golden Gophers.  Minny's not in a bowl game, so I guess Kill could finish the year with NIU, but who knows what will happen.  (Update:  Kill will not coach the Huskies in the H-Bowl).

The other MAC teams have been aligned with teams from the Sun Belt.

• UT will play Florida International (6-6) in the Pizza Bowl
• OU will play Troy (7-5) in the New Orleans bowl.
• Miami will play Middle Tennessee (6-6) in the Godaddy.com Bowl.

I know it is good to get people into post-season play, but on a global level, this is just discouraging.  The fact that all 3 of these teams made the bowls ahead of an 8-4 Temple team is one disappointing thing.  I know that the NCAA changed the rules and we had to be ready to expect that the MAC would get fewer bowl teams than in the past, as teams like 6-6 Clemson were now able to move forward.

But the real disappointment is just the intramural feel the whole thing has...a kind of sit at the kid's table mentality that is humbling...like war breaking out between two former Soviet republics no one ever heard of before.  It is probably reflective of how things are...but it would have been nice to get at least a half-decent matchup.

The MAC has nothing to gain.  Either we lose and lend credence to our decline toward the Sun Belt conference, or we win, and get no credit at all.