Buffalo Bulls Rooting Interest - We Want A Bowl Edition

Right now there are 71 bowl eligible teams for 78 bowl slots. Buffalo took care of business today and became one of those teams but it’s a near certainty we won’t get one of the MAC’s guaranteed bowls.

What we need, to be sure, is for seven or fewer teams to get bowl eligible. Here is the list of teams (16) that need a win tomorrow in order to get to 6-6.

American (2): Temple, Tulane

ACC (2): Duke, Georgia Tech

Big Ten (3): Indiana, Minnesota, Purdue

Big 12 (1): Texas Tech

C-USA (3): Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Old Dominion

Mountain West (1): UNLV

Pac-12 (4): California, Colorado, UCLA, Utah

The “Good News - Bad News” Games.

These are games where two 5-6 teams play. The good news is one of them won’t be taking a bowl slot, the bad news is one of them will.

Purdue (5-6) at Indiana (5-6)

Middle Tennessee (5-6) at ODU (5-6)

California (5-6) at UCLA (5-6)

Colorado (5-6) at Utah (5-6)

After these games the number of eligible teams goes up to 75. With 75 teams there is room for three more before getting into a bowl becomes an issues.

The “Probably Bad News” Games.

These are games where the 5-6 team looks like they should win and joing the 6-6 club

Temple (5-6) at Tulsa (2-9)

UNLV (5-6) at Nevada (2-9)

If these two both go the way they look to go the number of teams is up to 77. Which leaves one more team to fill 78 out.

The “Coin Flip” Games

Games which should be close, but too close to call.

Tulane (5-6) at SMU (6-5)

Duke (5-6) at Wake Forest (7-4)

Texas Tech (5-6) at Texas (6-5) In progress

UTSA (6-4) at Louisiana Tech (5-6)

This is a lot that has to break UB’s way. Hanging out hops on Wake Forest and SMU. At the time of this writing Texas is getting the job done against Texas Tech.

The “Help is on the way” Games

These are games where the would be bowl slot contender faces an uphill battle

Georgia Tech (5-5) at Georgia (10-1)

Wisconsin (11-0) at Minnesota (5-6)

Any given Saturday a big time upset can happen, but it’s hard to see two teams fighting for a spot in the national title show dropping these games.

So... The Big games to watch would be:

UTSA (6-4) at Louisiana Tech (5-6)

Tulane (5-6) at SMU (6-5)

Duke (5-6) at Wake Forest (7-4)