by AmphibiousRodent on Sat Jan 07, 2012 4:35 pm
Here is the transcript of the Bowl Selection Show, which was presented in chat to an audience of one (thanks for dropping in, Frito Bandito). I'm still creating the bowl games, so they will go out sometime this weekend.
Welcome to the 2011 College Football Bowl Selection Show, brought to you by Brawndo.
Brawndo: It's got Electrolyte. It's what people crave.
Bowl participants were selected using the NCAA's rules, where six wins makes you bowl eligible, but bowls are required to take seven-win teams before six-win teams. Teams that are 6-7 are eligible only if all 6-6 teams have been taken.
Basically I populated the bowls by going straight down through the rankings after I filled the playoff bracket.
We'll start with the lowest bowls and move to the top.
New Orleans Bowl: Fresno State (6-7, fourth in the WAC) at Tulane (6-7, third in the C-USA West Division). In all honesty, these two teams only made bowls because a few teams earns bowl bans by dropping out.
Hawaii Bowl: Wisconsin (6-6, third in the Big Ten Leaders Division) at Louisville (6-6, fourth in the Big East)
Armed Forces Bowl: Arizona (6-6, fourth in the PAC-12 South) at Boston College (6-6, fourth in the ACC Atlantic Division)
New Mexico Bowl: Southern Methodist (6-6, fourth in the C-USA West Division) at Virginia Tech (6-6, fifth in the ACC Coastal Division)
Poinsettia Bowl: Utah State (6-6, sixth in the WAC) at East Carolina (6-6, C-USA East Division runner up)
GoDaddy.com Bowl: Western Kentucky (6-6, fifth in the Sun Belt) at Miami-Florida (6-6, third in the ACC Coastal Division)
Humanitarian Bowl: Georgia Tech (6-6, fourth in the ACC Coastal Division) at Oklahoma State (6-6, sixth in the Big-12)
Little Caesars Pizza Bowl: Kansas (6-6, fourth in the Big-12) at Florida International (6-6, sixth in the Sun Belt)
Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl: Memphis (6-6, fourth in the C-USA East) at Kent State (6-6, third in the MAC East)
BBVA Compass Bowl: Florida Atlantic (6-6, fourth in the Sun Belt (at Kentucky (6-6, fourth in the SEC East)
Beef 'O' Brady Bowl: Notre Dame (6-6) at Rutgers (7-5, Big East runner up)
Military Bowl: #19 Boise State (6-6, sixth in the Mountain West) at Pittsburg (7-5, third in the Big East)
Maaco Bowl: Indiana (7-5, fifth in the Big Ten Leaders Division) at Nevada (7-5, WAC runner up)
Independence Bowl: California (7-5, third in the PAC-12 North) at Maryland (7-5, third in the ACC Atlantic)
TicketCity Bowl: Toledo (7-5, third in the MAC West) at Alabama (7-5, fourth in the SEC West)
Meineke Car Car Bowl: Bowling Green (7-5, MAC East Division runner up) at Arkansas (7-5, third in the SEC West)
Music City Bowl: Washington State (8-4, PAC-12 North runner up) at Southern Miss (9-4, C-USA East champion)
Texas Bowl: Baylor (7-5, fifth in the Big-12) at Arizona State (8-5, PAC-12 South champion)
LIberty Bowl: Colorado (8-5, PAC-12 South runner up) at South Carolina (8-5, SEC East champion)
Sun Bowl: Kansas State (7-5, fourth in the Big-12) at Houton (9-3, C-USA West runner up)
Pinstripe Bowl: UAB (7-5, third in the C-USA East) at #25 Clemson (7-5, ACC Atlantic runner up)
HOliday Bowl: #24 Central Michigan (8-4, MAC West runner up) at #23 Vanderbilt (8-4, third in the SEC East)
Alamo Bowl: #22 Iowa (7-5, fourth in the Big Ten Legends Division) at #21 UNLV (7-5, third in the Mountain West)
Champs Sports Bowl: #20 Texas A&M (9-3, third in the Big-12) at #17 Duke (9-3, ACC Coastal runner up)
At this point it's important to keep in mind that since a few conference champions are ranked outside of the top 16, there are a handful of non-champions inside the top 16 that do not make the playoffs.
Insight Bowl: #16 Arkansas State (9-3, Sun Belt runner up) at #15 North Carolina (ACC Coastal Division champion)
Gator Bowl: #14 Michigan (10-3, Big Ten Leaders Division champion) at #13 Missouri (9-3, Big-12 runner up)
Those are your secondary bowls. The Cotton Bowl, Chik-Fil-A Bowl, Outback Bowl, Capital One Bowl, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl and Fiesta Bowl will be used as consolation games for players who are knocked out of the playoffs.
The playoffs are not played on neutral fields; no, the higher seed will host until the championship game (Sugar Bowl), which will be the only playoff game on a neutral field.
I'll start with the 9/8 game and work my way out to the 16/1 game.
Your No. 9 seed is the Conference USA champion Tulsa (11-2). The Golden Hurricane defeated Southern Miss 26-15 in the C-USA championship game, and has jtwo wins over a ranked team: a 32-9 win over then-#22 Houston in Week 13 and a 29-23 win over then-#18 Boise State in Week 4. Tulsa has not faced any of the other playoff teams.
Tulsa will travel to #8 Louisiana Tech (10-2), the WAC champion. The Bulldogs also defeated two ranked teams: then-#21 LSU 25-17 in Week 2, and then-#17 Houston in Week 3. LA Tech barely scraped by in a few of its league games, including a 30-23 win over NMSU, a 30-29 win over Fresno State and a 33-30 win over Hawaii.
Tulsa is coached by Adam666. Lousiana Tech is coached by TheCrown.
Your 10-vs-7 matchup is a conference rematch as 10th-seeded Colorado State (9-3), the Mountain West champion, travels to seventh-seeded Wyoming (9-3). The Cowboys finished fourth in the Mountain West with a 4-3 league record, but didn't lose a game outside of conference play. Wyoming defeated Colorado State 44-32 in the last week of the season, after CSU had already clinched the conference title. That's a hell of a matchup.
Colorado State is coached by HighlanderAttack. Wyoming is coached by danervinsucks.
The 11th seed goes to Sun Belt champion Middle Tennessee State (9-3). The Blue Raiders famously knocked off then-#1 Memphis, 10-6, in Week 5, and clinched the conference with a 26-19 win over #21 Florida International in Week 13.
MTSU will travel to #6 Buffalo (11-2), the MAC champion. The Bulls defeated #4 Ball State 26-23 in the MAC championship game, Buffalo's only game against a ranked opponent.
MTSU is coached by sventastic. Buffalo is coached by swbaird.
Coming in at the 12 seed is Air Force (9-3). AFA finished second in the Mountian West, and this makes the MWC the only conference with three teams in the playoffs. The Falcons won four of their last five games, including 31-10 over #10 Wyoming and 33-10 over #10 UNLV.
Air Force will travel to #5 Ball State (11-2), the MAC runner up, making this the only first-round matchup between non-champions. BSU's only losses came 30-28 to Western Michigan and 26-23 to Buffalo in the MAC championship.
Air Force is coached by ESQuire. Ball State is coached by ianphull.
Here is where we get into the conference champions from outside the top 16, with 18th-ranked Stanford (9-4), the PAC-12 champion, taking the 13 seed. Stanford knocked off Arizona State 33-13 in the PAC-12 championship after a three-game losing streak from weeks 9-11 almost cost the Cardinal the North Division title.
Stanford heads to #4 Ohio State (11-2), which defeated #11 Michigan 43-26 in the Big Ten title game, a week after losing to Michigan 28-23 the week before. OSU's other loss was 31-30 to then-#8 Michigan State.
Stanford is coached by swimmerdude99. OSU is coached by dustin 800.
Next up is 14 seed West Virginia (9-3), ranked way down at #28. The Big East champion mounted a perfect run through the Big East, but was 0-2 against Top-25 teams with a 47-6 loss to Maryland in Week 3 and a 23-13 loss to South Carolina in Week 12. West Virginia is coached by blindman30.
WVA heads to #3 Iowa State (11-1), the Big-12 champion. ISU's only loss came in a surprise 6-3 upset at the hands of Oklahoma. The Cyclones beat three ranked teams along the way (Missouri, Texas A&M and Kansas State). Iowa State is coached by rgreffenius.
The 15th-seed is Florida State (9-4), the ACC champion, who is ranked way down at #30. The Seminoles emerged from a three-way tie atop the ACC Atlantic to defeat North Carolina 26-23 in the ACC title game. It was the only ranked team FSU faced all season. Florida State is coached by nolefan5311.
The second seed is Michigan State (11-1), which missed out on the Big Ten championship game on account of its only loss -- a 46-29 shellacking at the hands of then-unranked Michigan. The Spartans knocked off three ranked teams in Florida Atlantic, Ohio State and Iowa. Michigan State is coached by Pixar.
The 16th and final seed goes to SEC champion Mississippi State (7-6), which is ranked #33. The Bulldogs went 6-2 for the SEC west title despite going 0-4 in nonconference games. MSU then defeated #22 South Carolina 38-27 in the SEC title game. Mississippi State is coached by kierkegaard_2.
And finally, the top seed goes to Brigham Young University, the only team to put together an undefeated season. The Cougars knocked off four ranked teams in Texas, Utah, Utah State and Kentucky, though none of those teams finished in the top 25. BYU is coached by ViperOverLord.
Those are your playoff teams, folks. Good games, everyone.
I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me.