Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/20 CFB Bowl Games Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 10. This poll is closed
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/22-24 CFB Bowl Games Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 10. This poll is closed
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/26-27 CFB Bowl Games Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 12. This poll is closed
Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/29-30 CFB Bowl Games Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 10. This poll is closed
[Pick the WINNERS in the Dec/31-Jan/1 CFB Bowl Games](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=743405) Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 17. This poll is closed
Pick the WINNERS in the Jan/2-Jan/4 CFB Bowl Games Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 11. This poll is closed
[Pick the WINNER in the Jan/12 CFB Bowl Game](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=745506) Voters: 33. This poll is closed
Notice the links to two of those threads! (the ones with the best participation)
What can we do to make the Bowl Season more fun this time?
I posted this pretty much everywhere else, so I might as well post it here…
CFP “BIG SIX” BOWL SELECTION PROCESS
(2015-16 version, where the Orange and Cotton bowls are playoff semi-finals)
[ol]
[li]The #1 and #4 ranked teams in the final CFP rankings are put into one of the semi-final bowls (Orange or Cotton - and it is “supposed to be” the one considered to benefit the #1 team’s fans the most, but I don’t think this is a requirement); the #2 and #3 ranked teams are put into the other semi-final bowl.[/li][li]The Big 10 and Pac-12 champions are put into the Rose Bowl. If either or both are in a semi-final bowl, the Rose Bowl committee (not the CFP committee, nor the conference in question) chooses a bowl-eligible replacement team from the same conference; it does not have to be the highest-ranked remaining team from that conference, or, for that matter, a ranked team at all. (I think - it depends on what it actually says in the CFP’s contract with the Rose Bowl.)[/li][li]The SEC and Big 12 champions are put into the Sugar Bowl. The same procedure used in the Rose Bowl applies if one or both are in a semi-final bowl, except of course that it is the Sugar Bowl committee that decides the replacement team(s).[/li][li]This leaves four openings - two in the Fiesta Bowl, and two in the Peach Bowl. If the ACC champion is not in a semi-final, that team gets one of the four spots. If the highest-ranked champion of a non-Power 5 conference is not in a semi-final, that team gets one. (If none of the non-Power 5 conference champions are ranked, the CFP committee votes to select one of them to get that berth. There must be at least one non-Power 5 team in the “Big Six” bowls.) The remaining spots are filled by the highest-ranked teams that are not already assigned to bowls. Note that there is no limit as to how many teams from a conference can be in these bowls.[/li]The CFP committee decides which teams play in the Fiesta, and which ones play in the Peach; among other things, they try to prevent rematches of games played earlier in the season.
[/ol]
WHAT HAPPENS IF THERE ARE MORE BOWL BERTHS THAN BOWL-ELIGIBLE TEAMS?
The NCAA has a procedure for declaring additional teams bowl-eligible if there are not enough to fill all of the bowls. The teams are put into six “groups”, and teams are taken from the first through fifth groups in order until all of the spots are filled or all of the teams are in bowls.
The groups are:
[ol]
[li]Teams whose only win against an FCS team was against one that did not give out at least 90% of its scholarships over the past two years (so it is not counted for bowl eligibility purposes), and would be eligible had that win counted;[/li][li]Teams with two or more wins against FCS teams that would be eligible if two of them counted;[/li][li]Any 6-7 team (only three teams had a 13-game regular season - Hawaii, Louisiana-Monroe, and Colorado - and none of them can get to 6-7);[/li][li]Any team that would be eligible except that it is in the second year of an FCS-to-FBS transfer period (I think Charlotte is the only team in this position, and I don’t think they would be bowl eligible anyway);[/li][li]Any 5-7 team in the top five of the most recent FBS APR standings;[/li][li]Everybody else - and technically, teams in Group 6 need an NCAA waiver.[/li][/ol]
Some sources claim that Group 5 is “all 5-7 teams, in APR order,” but the NCAA Bylaws (a) specifically say that it is limited to the Top 5, and (b) make no mention of a requirement that, say, the #1 APR team has to be chosen before the #5 APR team.
Apparently, this isn’t quite true any more; according to this report, the new NCAA Football Oversight Committee will decide how (or even if) to fill bowls if the procedure in the NCAA Bylaws does not come up with 80 eligible teams. It looks as if the committee will wait until after the Thanksgiving weekend’s games, as only nine more teams are needed and something like 18 have a chance to reach 6-6. (They may have to wait until December 6, as it may come down to some 4-6 teams winning their final two games. Note that bowl invitations are “supposed to” come out right after the Big Six bowl pairings are announced on 12/6.)
Yikes. Thanks for figuring that out so I didn’t have to, Don!
I was thinking of doing a simple betting pool for the bowl season (not with real money, of course). Everyone starts with $1000 and bet whatever you like on any bowls as the season progresses (we would need to find a standard source for point spreads), whoever ends up with the most fake money wins.
Here’s some additional reading to help us decide which (if any) Bowl Games to have polls about:
========================================================= Bowl Championship Series - Wikipedia
Bowl Championship Series – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Since there are 41 games to consider, one approach would be to split the slate into four groups of 10 games each. If we did that the whole list would look like:
DATE BOWL LOCATION MATCHUP
Dec. 19 AutoNation Cure Bowl American vs. Sun Belt Citrus Bowl Stadium Orlando, FL 7:00pm / CBSSN
Dec. 23 GoDaddy Bowl MAC vs. Sun Belt Ladd-Peebles Stadium Mobile, AL 8:00pm / ESPN ---
==================================================== (10)
Dec. 24 Popeyes Bahamas Bowl C-USA vs. MAC Thomas Robinson Stadium Nassau, Bahamas Noon / ESPN
Dec. 28 Quick Lane Bowl ACC/Notre Dame vs. Big Ten Ford Field Detroit, MI 5:00pm / ESPN
==================================================== (20)
Dec. 29 Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl Big Ten vs. MWC Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX 2:00pm / ESPN
Dec. 31 Capital One Orange Bowl Playoff Semifinal Game Sun Life Stadium Miami Gardens, FL 4 or 8pm / ESPN
==================================================== (31)
Jan. 1 Outback Bowl Big Ten vs. SEC Raymond James Stadium Tampa, FL Noon / ESPN2
Jan. 2 Cactus Bowl Big 12 vs. Pac-12 Chase Field Phoenix, AZ 10:15pm / ESPN
==================================================== (40)
Monday, Jan. 11
CFP National Championship Semifinal Winner vs. Semifinal Winner U. of Phoenix Stadium Glendale, AZ 7:00pm / ESPN
==================================================== (41)
I think the overall College Football thread is creeping into this one - here is a post I made on that thread listing the 5-7 (and 5-6 and 4-7 teams with one game left) teams in APR order. (Well, orders - the NCAA lists their one-year and four-year APRs and isn’t too clear as to which one to use.)
At 6-6, my Indiana Hoosiers are technically bowl-eligible; we’ll have to see how it goes. I wouldn’t deprive a 7-win team, “even” a mid-major, of a bowl bid, even if it comes at IU’s expense. (A 2-7 record in the Big Ten is not exactly something to be proud of, though we did hang in there against both Ohio State and Michigan, as I recall.)
You need not worry. Every 7-5 team will get a bowl game. Every 6-6 team will get a bowl game. There are so many bowl games, sad to say, that even some 5-7 teams will get bowl games, which I certainly will not watch and hope nobody else does either.
