NIU Huskies heading to the EagleBank Bowl in D.C.?
by Mike Breese on Nov 29, 2009 2:10 AM CST
in Football
5 comments
All signs seem to be pointing that way.
It's likely that no MAC Bowl tie-ins available with 10-2 CMU, 9-3 Ohio & 9-3 Temple taking the three spots in the GMAC Bowl, Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl & International Bowl.
The teams with 7+ wins looking for an at-large spot in a bowl game:
- 9-3 Middle Tennessee State
- 7-5 Northern Illinois
- 7-5 Bowling Green
The wild cards
9-3 Temple
They could decide to go to the EagleBank bowl considering the proximity that DC is to Philadelphia. Would be a great gift to Owl supporters and will maximize revenue. That would leave the International Bowl available to select NIU. Only CMU & Ohio are relegated to go to a MAC-affiliated bowl game.
6-6 Notre Dame
Will they even go bowling after Charlie Weis gets fired? They could play the MAC champ in either the GMAC or the Pizza bowl. UCLA will be the hot 6-6 bowl team if ND decides to stay home.
Available bowl spots:
- EagleBank Bowl (
ACC #8At-Large vs. Army or Marshall) - Humanitarian Bowl (
MWC #5At-Large vs. WAC #1) - GMAC Bowl (MAC #1 vs.
ACC #9At-Large) - Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl (MAC #2 vs.
Big 10 #7At-Large)
Why the EagleBank Bowl?
It's likely that the WAC will be sending Idaho to the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise because of the proximity to fans of the Vandals. Last time I checked, the Huskies already played Idaho this year, so I see Bowling Green heading to the H-Bowl in Boise and NIU to the EagleBank Bowl in Washington DC.
The only problem would be that we won't know who our opponent would be until Dec. 12th when Army takes on Navy.
And of course neither MAC team is going to play another MAC team in the GMAC or Pizza bowls. Expect those spots to be filled up by MTSU and...Notre Dame to the Pizza Bowl? It's a distinct possibility at this point.
Hawaii could get 7-wins next Saturday against Wisconsin at home, but that's a long shot. If they did get a winning record then they would go to the Hawaii Bowl and probably send Fresno State looking for an at-large spot.
The Pundits start ringing in:
CBS Sports - EagleBank Bowl: Northern Illinois* vs. Marshall*
SI - Eagle Bank: Northern Illinois (ACC*) vs. Marshall (C-USA)
The Rivalry, Esq. - EagleBank Bowl: Northern Illinois* vs. Marshall*
ESPN - Humanitarian Bowl: Idaho vs. Northern Illinois*
CFN - Roady's Humanitarian Bowl
December 30th, Boise ID, 4:30 pm ESPN
Mountain West vs. WAC
Projection: Northern Illinois* vs. Idaho
*No Mountain West team projected available
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ND can't go to Gator Bowl
As long as the Big East has a 7-win team available to play in the Gator Bowl (which it does), the Irish are out of luck. The Sun and Gator Bowls are an either/or deal for the Big 12 and Big East – this year, the Gator Bowl gets the Big East (or ND) and the Sun gets the Big 12. ND is just another 6-6 team looking for an at-large spot.
By the way, UCLA is also 6-6, but probably won’t get a bid. All other 6-6 teams (except UL Monroe and UL Lafayette) look like they’re in, based on conference-bowl agreements.
Marshall w/ a lame duck coach
boy, the coaches are dropping left and right…….. does this have any effect on the EagleBank selection?
2 to keep watch of
1 is Army vs Navy as it will effect whether Marshall plays in the Eagle Bank bowl or stays home. 2 is Hawaii vs Wisconsin as a Hawaii win bounce ND from a bowl because there will be no open spots for a 6-6 at large team. NIU is going bowling it just depends on which one.
Hoping
For scenery sake, I hope NIU ends up in D.C. At least going to the game would give me other things to look at an exucse to stay another day. I’ll hope for the Smurf Turf before New Mexico. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see NIU play on steamrolled Smurfs!? Opponent doesn’t matter much, its a bowl, they’ll have an equal chance to win with anyone at this point. Though…a revenge shot at Idaho would sure be nice.
Idaho vs NIU III
Really? No thanks, but that’s just me.
Red and Black Attack - Northern Illinois Pride
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