Dollar General (Mobile): UT vs. App. State (8-4, Sun Belt Champ)
Bahamas Bowl: Ohio U vs. UAB (8-4 in C-USA after resurrecting program)
Potato Bowl: CMU vs. Wyoming (7-5 in MWC)
Boca Raton: Akron vs. FAU (10-3, C-USA Champ)
Quick Lane: NIU vs. Duke (6-6 in ACC)
So, there's the lineup. This was a year with a surplus of bowl-eligible teams---there were three extras, and the teams not to advance were Buffalo, WMU and UTSA, which is heavy on the MAC.
The biggest thing I am seeing is that fans are not understanding why the MAC didn't fill the Camellia Bowl with one of those two teams, given that Camellia is a bowl tie-in. Jordan Strack commented on twitter that the MAC might have traded the Boca Raton bowl for the Camellia bowl, which is fine though I don't know what makes one better than the other.
Maybe more will come out on that. Of course, the Boca Raton bowl is now a Florida Atlantic matchup that will feature Kiffin vs. Bowden, which I suspect is something that they think might attract some kind of audience.
There is just one P5 hookup, and that's in Detroit at the Quick Lane Bowl, with NIU playing Duke. This is what you get...a good G5 team or a mediocre P5 team. This is winnable.
The UT-App State game promises to be a good one. They played a highly competitive and entertaining 2016 Camellia Bowl.
I'm a little nervous about the FAU-Akron game. Might be a good story, but I fear an Owl rout in that one.
UAB is an interesting story in that their program was shut down only a couple of years ago, and yet the program has eight wins and is back in a bowl game, which is impressive.
Wyoming is interesting in that they are coached by Craig Bohl, who won 3 straight NCAA titles at North Dakota State. They were 2-10 a couple years ago but won 8 games last year and 7 this year.
So, that's the lineup. Actually, in the sense that there is only 1 Sun Belt game I think it marks an upgrade in bowl opponents.
Not sure where to post this but fyi Gabe Martin is back with the Arizona cardinals on active roster
ReplyDeleteThe mix does seem to have more winnable games and that is without question better than the hopeless animal sacrifice #MACtion normally is.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be shocked to wee only two wins however.
The bottom line is that the MAC is not remotely as good as it can be or has been. Worse, it continues to whore itself out to prove the point with an endless series of pathetic televised embarrassments.
OU won, as expected. NIU has a good shot to win, as expected. Akron was re-exposed as not truly being ready for primetime. And predictably UT utterly embarrassed themselves but that is "The First Rule of Toledo" in effect.
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