2010 Bowl Projections: Week 14
by Brian Favat on Nov 29, 2010 8:15 AM EST
in Boston College Football
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PrintUnlike other programs that are clinging to every decimal point change in their BCS ranking to determine which bowl game they are headed to, the Eagles' bowl picture seems pretty clear to me right now.
With nine ACC teams bowl-eligible for eight slots, it seems like the Eagles are all but guaranteed to be the odd team out. Nevermind the fact that BC has a better overall record than 6-6 Georgia Tech or 6-6 Clemson (and a head-to-head victory), or the fact that they have the same overall record as suddenly toxic Miami and North Carolina. Other than Virginia Tech, winners of 10 straight, BC is the hottest team in the ACC, having won their last five games (though admittedly, the competition eased up significantly down the stretch).
The ninth ACC team is 99 percent assured that they'll end up playing in San Francisco on January 9 in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. But when you scour the internet looking for various college football prognosticators' bowl projections, there is really no clear consensus on where the Eagles are headed.
Weird, right? See for yourself:
ESPN Andrea Adelson: Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl vs. Boise State
ESPN Heather Dinich: Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl vs. WAC (thanks for being specific, HD)
Rivals: Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl vs. Boise State
Orlando Sentinel: Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl vs. Fresno State
Scout: Independence Bowl vs. Air Force
ESPN Mark Schlabach: Sun Bowl vs. Army
Sports Illustrated: Military Bowl vs. East Carolina
CBS Sports: Military Bowl vs. East Carolina
NBC Sports: Military Bowl vs. East Carolina
I was pretty sure BC was headed west to San Francisco, to play either Nevada or Fresno State, up until late last night, but the shortage of Pac-10 bowl eligible teams and the situation down in Miami now gives me pause.
The Sun Bowl and the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, two bowl games with Pac-10 tie-ins, will likely be scrambling to find replacements for a Pac-10 team. Both Oregon (Pac-10 champ) and Stanford (automatic BCS at-large) appear to be BCS bowl bound, while UCLA and California became bowl in-eligible over the weekend. That leaves the conference with just three bowl eligible teams with two more -- Washington (at Washington State) and Oregon State (Oregon) -- needing a win in their final game to get to six wins. Of the two teams, only Washington seems like a sure thing to become the fourth bowl-eligible team from the conference. That Pac-10 will likely see their fourth bowl-eligible team, Washington, land in the Holiday Bowl, leaving the Sun, Las Vegas and Kraft Fight Hunger bowl scrambling to fill their bowl slots.
GDF has apparently spoken to both the Sun Bowl and Military Bowl directors and believes BC could still land in either of those two spots (or the Independence Bowl).
Here's how I think the ACC bowl picture breaks down (as of this morning, anyway):
Orange: Virginia Tech vs. West Virginia
Peach: Florida State vs. Mississippi State
Champs Sports: N.C. State vs. Notre Dame
Sun: Maryland vs. Army
Meineke Car Care: North Carolina vs. Connecticut
Music City: Clemson vs. Tennessee
Independence: Georgia Tech vs. Air Force
Military: Boston College vs. East Carolina
Kraft Fight Hunger: Miami vs. Nevada
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i’m with you for DC- none of the other potential bowls really give us northeasterners a reasonable drive. i know my roommates and i would make the drive down to DC for the military bowl though
Agreed
San Francisco is a better option than Shreveport, Louisiana or El Paso, Texas, but the date isn’t really conducive to fans to travel from the East Coast (Sunday night, with work on Monday).
DC best option for fans. Dominique Davis Bowl, anyone?
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by Brian Favat on Nov 29, 2010 10:49 AM EST up reply actions
Dominique Davis Bowl
I would give my right arm to play ECU!
My freshman year I shared the same dorm floor, Cheverus Hall floor 3, with Dominique, and when he was made the starter our sophomore year all my friends and I were really pulling for him (we created his original wikipedia page). We were all real upset when he got kicked off the team, but one of the team’s receivers told us he plagiarized…twice.. so I guess that was deserved.
Anyway, I am a senior now and I really want to make the trip to our bowl game for the first time, but I don’t think I can go unless its on the east coast. I could think of nothing more fitting to travel and watch us go against our former starting quarterback, and if we get the military bowl, I guarantee GDF that I will personally drive at least 5 friends to the game!
by bloomsday16 on Nov 29, 2010 12:44 PM EST up reply actions
I don't follow your logic
There are very emphatic press reports that BSU will be selected for the Kraft Bowl. So I don’t get how you are pencilling-in Nevada instead of BSU.
Also, how do you figure that Miami will fall to ACC #9. Miami has better national TV draw than does BC. Since BC won’t be bringing 10,000+ fans, its only calling card is TV viewers. But Miami will bring some fans and draw in more TV viewers, so given the choice between BC and Miami, why would any bowl chose BC over Miami? I don’t get your logic.
Seems you might be swayed by GDF’s propoganda courtesy of the hack from the Herald.
-————————————————-
As to HD, boy she is super lame. I hope ESPN replaces her next year with someone who has a clue about football.
Ticket sales
Nevada and Fresno State are much closer to San Francisco than Boise. Nevada’s win over Boise State gave the Wolf Pack a share of the WAC Championship, and Nevada might be a more appealing candidate for one of the WAC’s two high-profile bowls. Ticket sales will be a concern for all four WAC bowls and the new trend is to have local teams in bowl games to boost ticket sales.
Also, do you really expect the city of Boise to welcome and support the team that crushed their hometown team’s BCS bowl chances?
Kraft Fight Hunger: Nevada
Humanitarian: Boise State
New Mexico: Fresno State
Hawaii: Hawaii
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by Brian Favat on Nov 29, 2010 10:42 AM EST up reply actions
Fight Hunger!
Scout, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and SI all have Miami to San Francisco.
CBS Sports has Georgia Tech penciled in.
NBC Sports has Clemson.
Are those major news outlets also being “swayed by GDF’s propaganda courtesy of the hack from the Herald”?
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by Brian Favat on Nov 29, 2010 10:47 AM EST up reply actions
ok, so...
but what is your logic? that you are sheep in a herd? Miami dropping to #9 does not make any sense to me. Why do you think it will shake out this way?
Logic
Teams that change coaches before the bowl game have a way of slipping down the bowl pecking order. The U becomes slightly less appealing without Shannon at the helm.
Miami is a national brand, and they may very well end up in El Paso to prop up the Sun Bowl, but with my “Army to the Sun Bowl” projection, I think the Sun Bowl doesn’t have to worry about game attendance and will pass on Miami.
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by Brian Favat on Nov 29, 2010 11:06 AM EST up reply actions
also ....
ESPN Schalbach does not pick BC for the Kraft b/c he has us going to the higher Sun Bowl — a bowl in El Paso that is not planning on big crowds from any ACC team.
Depends
BC wouldn’t prop up the Sun Bowl from the ACC, but that’s because he has Army opposite BC, which will be a big draw. Adelson has Miami-Toledo, so there the Sun Bowl is clearly hoping that Miami props up that game.
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by Brian Favat on Nov 29, 2010 11:09 AM EST up reply actions
Fun alternative
In a devilish way, I think it would be great to send Clemson to face BSU.
It would be hysterical to see the Clemson reaction when they get rocked by BSU (I am talking about the nuts from Shakin’ the Southland)
technical question
Is it correct that even though Clemson and GT are 6-6/4-4, they still can be selected ahead of MD and NCSU at 8-4/5-3.
Only the conf ACC records count, right, for bowl pecking order?
And a team can be selected so long as there is no other team available having 2 or more conference wins than the team to be selected? (e.g, Clemson cannot be selected ahead of FSU?)
The “2 or more conference wins” rule is still in effect. So Clemson can’t be selected ahead of FSU, but the Peach Bowl has made it pretty clear it is taking the ACC Championship Game runner up.
There used to be a rule that stated the conference had to place teams with winning records in bowls over teams that went 6-6, but they removed that rule this year. So that no longer helps BC.
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by Brian Favat on Nov 29, 2010 10:51 AM EST up reply actions
Maryland wants to go to a better bowl
“I think we’re in a pretty good position,” Friedgen said. “We’ll have a chance to go to a couple upper-echelon bowls. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
Friedgen would seem to be an advocate of complete fairness is the bowl process, which most folks realize doesn’t entirely exist. But he rattled off the four bowls in the middle of the ACC’s selection process-Champs Sports (Orlando), Sun (El Paso), Meineke Car Care (Charlotte) and Music City (Nashville)-as the neighborhood he believes Maryland belongs in.
“We’d love to go to any of those bowls that are in that area,” Friedgen said. “Not that we wouldn’t go anywhere else, but that’s where I think we’re deserving of going.”
Though Friedgen’s lobbying didn’t help a few years ago when Maryland was shipped off to Boise.
http://d1scourse.typepad.com/blog/2010/11/friedgen-vouching-for-better-bowl-destination.html
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