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With a week to go in the regular season, 72 teams are bowl eligible for 78 spots. There are 14 additional teams that could be bowl eligible, so it is imperative that UB wins their game on Friday against Bowling Green. A loss would make it extremely hard to get into a bowl.
Below are rooting interests for both 6-6 and 7-5 Buffalo. Remember that:
- The MAC only has five primary bowl spots, and two secondary bowls spot. There are currently 6 eligible teams.
- The secondary bowl spots are the Quick Lane Bowl (fill in for ACC/Big Ten) and the Frisco Bowl (competing with CUSA, MWC, and AAC).
- Bowls can pick a 6-6 team over a 7-5 team. This is usually means 6-6 power conference teams get a bowl over 7-5 non-power conference teams. Remember when Temple went 8-4 and did not get a bowl?
Games are rated on a scale of 1 to 4 stars based on how much it impacts UB getting to a bowl.
Tuesday, November 26
Akron (0-11) over Ohio (5-6) **** - When in doubt, rooting against Ohio is usually a good strategy
Thursday, November 28
Ole Miss (4-7) over Mississippi State (5-6) ***
Friday, November 29
Texas Tech (4-7) over Texas (6-5) *
Buffalo (6-5) over Bowling Green (3-8) ****
Eastern Michigan (6-5) over Kent State (5-6) *** - If UB and Toledo both win, I think we want this to go to Kent State so that there aren't six 7-win MAC teams for potentially five spots.
Central Michigan (7-4) over Toledo (6-5) **** - See above, we want to be a cut above the rest of the bowl eligible MAC teams.
Iowa (8-3) over Nebraska (5-6) **** - Detroit, yo
West Virginia (4-7) over TCU (5-6) ***
Appalachian State (10-1) over Troy (5-6) ***
Saturday, November 30
Marshall (7-4) over FIU (6-5) ** - Manny Diaz really f-ed this one up. FIU should have been fighting for bowl eligibility this week....
Louisville (7-4) over Kentucky (6-5) *
Northwestern (2-9) over Illinois (6-5) *
New Mexico State (2-9) over Liberty (6-5) ** - Remember Liberty is not bowl eligible yet and does not have a primary bowl tie in. I do not expect them to get a bowl unless Jerry Falwell Jr. bribes a bowl official with a mountain of cash, which is entirely possible.
Old Dominion (1-10) over Charlotte (6-5) ** - See FIU game above, replace Manny Diaz with Doc Holliday...
Maryland (3-8) over Michigan State (5-6) ***
Pittsburgh (7-4) over Boston College (5-6) ***
Duke (4-7) over Miami (FL) (6-5) *
SMU (9-2) over Tulane (6-5) **
Vanderbilt (3-8) over Tennessee (6-5) *
Oregon (9-2) over Oregon State (5-6) ***
New Mexico (2-9) over Utah State (6-5) **
Georgia State (7-4) over Georgia Southern (6-5) **
North Carolina State (4-7) over North Carolina (5-6) ***
Louisiana (9-2) over Louisiana Monroe (5-6) *** - Also for the LRCI (Louisiana Ragin Cajun Initiative)
Florida (9-2) over Florida State (6-5) *
Utah (10-1) over Colorado (5-6) ***
UCLA (4-7) over Cal (6-5) *
Arizona (4-7) over Arizona State (6-5) *
Hawaii (8-4) over Army (5-6) ***