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Topic: MAC in bowl games

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L.C.

1/3/2018 12:50 AM

I was curious when the "easy to get in bowls" era started, and how it has affected the MAC's performance in bowls. I went back as far as the 2000 season, and ended up splitting it into 3 eras:
2000-2003: The MAC had 2 bowl teams a year, and was 6-1 (.857)
2004-2007: The MAC averaged 3.5 bowl teams a year, and was 4-10 (.286)
2008-2017: The MAC has averaged 5.5 bowl teams a year, and is 15-40 (.273)

When the number of bowl games was very limited for the MAC, only really good teams when bowling, and they tended to win. Once the number of bowl games increased, the number of marginal teams increased, particularly from the MAC, and so the MAC's winning percentage plummeted.

What are each team's record since 2004, when expansion began?
Temple 1-1 .500
Toledo 4-5 .444
Ohio 3-6 .333
CMU 3-6 .333
Akron 1-2 .333
Miami 1-2 .333
BG 2-5 .286
NIU 3-8 .273
WMU 1-5 .167
Ball St 0-4 .000
Buffalo 0-2 .000
Marshall 0-1 .000
EMU 0-1 .000
Kent 0-1 .000

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GoCats105

1/3/2018 7:59 AM

L.C. wrote:expand_more

Total number of bowl games, according to Wikipedia:

1950 - 8 bowls
1970 - 11 bowls
1980 - 15 bowls
1990 - 19 bowls
2000 - 25 bowls
2010 - 35 bowls
2015 - 40 bowls

This year there were 39.

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ou79

1/3/2018 11:12 AM

Thanks for the info LC. it makes for interesting reading. I did a little more research into the 1962 and 1968 bowl seasons because those are the two (2) years Ohio made a bowl.

In 1962 there were ten (10) bowls:

Rose: USC vs. Wisconsin
Sugar: Mississippi vs. Arkansas
Cotton: LSU vs. Texas
Orange: Alabama vs. Oklahoma
Sun: Ohio vs. West Texas
Gator: Florida vs. Penn State
Tangerine: Houston vs. Miami (Oh)
Bluebonnet: Missouri vs. Ga. Tech
Liberty: Oregon State vs. Villanova
Gotham: Nebraska vs. Miami (Fla)

Note: The MAC had two (2) teams in those bowls. Also the only two (2) Ohio schools were Miami and Ohio, not Ohio State.

In 1968 there were ten (10) bowls:

Rose: Ohio State vs. USC
Sugar: Arkansas vs. Georgia
Cotton: Texas vs. Tennessee
Orange: Penn State vs. Kansas
Sun: Auburn vs. Arizona
Gator: Missouri vs. Alabama
Tangerine: Richmond vs. Ohio
Astro-Bluebonnet: SMU vs. Oklahoma
Liberty: Mississippi vs. Va. Tech
Peach: LSU vs. Florida State

Note: Ohio ended the year ranked 20th in the AP Polls and 18th in the UPI Polls and the MAC finished ahead of the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) with nationally ranked teams. The MAC had Ohio, the ACC had none.

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L.C.

1/3/2018 12:08 PM

GoCats105 wrote:expand_more

...Total number of bowl games, according to Wikipedia:

1950 - 8 bowls
1970 - 11 bowls
1980 - 15 bowls
1990 - 19 bowls
2000 - 25 bowls
2010 - 35 bowls
2015 - 40 bowls

This year there were 39.

It seems that the expansion from 8 to 25 bowls mainly meant more P5 schools going to bowls, but once they got up around 30, they were running out of bowl eligible P5 schools, and the bowl games filtered down to G5 schools. I'm going to guess that the other G5 conferences saw a similar growth in the number of bowl teams around 2004-2005.

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GoCats105

1/4/2018 11:53 AM

L.C. wrote:expand_more

GoCats105 wrote:expand_more

...Total number of bowl games, according to Wikipedia:

1950 - 8 bowls
1970 - 11 bowls
1980 - 15 bowls
1990 - 19 bowls
2000 - 25 bowls
2010 - 35 bowls
2015 - 40 bowls

This year there were 39.

Don't forget you also need to factor in the switch to a 12 game schedule.

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L.C.

1/4/2018 12:17 PM

GoCats105 wrote:expand_more

L.C. wrote:expand_more

GoCats105 wrote:expand_more

...Total number of bowl games, according to Wikipedia:

1950 - 8 bowls
1970 - 11 bowls
1980 - 15 bowls
1990 - 19 bowls
2000 - 25 bowls
2010 - 35 bowls
2015 - 40 bowls

This year there were 39.

Don't forget you also need to factor in the switch to a 12 game schedule.

How would that have affected the number of MAC teams in bowl games?

Last Edited: 1/4/2018 6:23:50 PM by L.C.

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GoCats105

1/4/2018 2:04 PM

L.C. wrote:expand_more

GoCats105 wrote:expand_more

L.C. wrote:expand_more

[QUOTE=GoCats105]...Total number of bowl games, according to Wikipedia:

1950 - 8 bowls
1970 - 11 bowls
1980 - 15 bowls
1990 - 19 bowls
2000 - 25 bowls
2010 - 35 bowls
2015 - 40 bowls

This year there were 39.

Don't forget you also need to factor in the switch to a 12 game schedule./QUOTE]
How would that have affected the number of MAC teams in bowl games?

Maybe not MAC teams but just total teams available in general. Adding one more game is one more chance at bowl eligibility.

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L.C.

1/4/2018 6:23 PM

I suppose that's true, since 6-6 is just as eligible as 6-5.