Bowl matchups get thumbs up here

I'm pretty happy with the MAC's bowl assignments...it stands to be the MAC's best year in a long line of noncompetitive bowl seasons.

I like a few things:

• 5 teams ties the record (only Ball State was bowl eligible and stays home)
• Only one game is against the Sun Belt.
• One game is against a BCS team.
• The NIU-Arkansas State game could be really good.
• Wyoming is a good matchup.
• The MAC could very easily win all of these games, and should win at least 3.

See below for the actual matchups, but I think this stands to be an interesting Bowl season for MAC fans.

Dec. 17: Gildan New Mexico Bowl – Albuquerque, N.M. 2:00 pm ET (ESPN)
Temple (8-4, 5-3) vs. Wyoming (8-4, 5-2, Mountain West Conference)

Dec. 17: Famous Idaho Potato Bowl – Boise, Ida. 5:30 pm ET (ESPN)Ohio (9-4, 6-2) vs. Utah State (7-5, 5-2, Western Athletic Conference)

Dec. 27: Little Caesars Pizza Bowl – Detroit, Mich. 4:30 pm ET (ESPN)
Western Michigan (7-5, 5-3) vs. Purdue (6-6, 4-4, Big Ten Conference)

Dec. 28: Military Bowl presented by Northrop Grumman – Washington, D.C. 4:30 pm ET (ESPN)
Toledo (8-4, 7-1) vs. Air Force (7-5, 3-4, Mountain West Conference)

Jan. 8: GoDaddy.com Bowl – Mobile, Ala. 9:00 pm ET (ESPN)
Northern Illinois (10-3, 7-1) vs. Arkansas State (10-2, 8-0, Sun Belt)