Chuck is assuming that winning a bowl game vs a "P"5 team will get T'erd something from the selection committee. It won't. There's no selection committee process after 12/7. Their season was doomed in that respect because of their regular season schedule. It now comes down to win, loss and money. Mostly money. They have tickets to sell, and they needed to ask themselves where would most fans rather be this (or any) time of year: Texas or south Florida. They'll sell more tickets for Boca. And ESPN will get better ratings by matching 12-1 T'erd vs 11-2 NIU. As for win/loss, they'd actually have a better chance in Dallas, because in Boca they're playing the best team from the state of Illinois this year. They might actually lose to NIU; probably not to Illinois. But they'll get more respect from the final pollsters (I'm assuming AP and Coaches will have one more this season) by beating 11-2 NIU than by beating 6-6 Illinois, if that matters to them.

I hope NIU beats them by 40.

Boca Raton in December is reason enough for me.

I definitely agree with Chuck here.

College football is about the company you keep. If you get a choice to dance with a P5 school over a G5 school, pick the P5 school every single time.

P.S.

I hope Marshall destroys NIU.

A strong MAC is a pipe dream long term.

A strong long term relationship with Marshall is a very real opportunity.

OHIO needs Marshall to be as strong as they can be.

Certainly NIU is better than Illinois this year, so Marshall is playing the harder foe, between those two choices. Yet, given that Illinois is a P5 team, I think it would be better for Marshall to play Illinois. The more G5 wins over P5 teams the better, as far as I'm concerned, so I always want to see the best of the G5 teams playing P5 teams in bowls.

I think Marshall made the right call for the following reasons:

-Higher ranked opponent regardless of opponent's conference, and who played in the Orange Bowl two years ago

-6:00PM time slot on a Tuesday BEFORE Christmas in FL versus 1:00PM on a Friday, the day after Christmas in Dallas makes for:

-More eyeballs on your program across the country
-More alumni able to attend the game in person, creating more connection/affinity from your base
-More desirable travel destination, and likely many more Marshall alumni in and adjacent to FL than TX
-Allows your student athletes, staff and administration to spend the holiday with their parents in their own homes

I could likely come up with more than the above given more time, but those are pretty quick and easy items that say the Mouth of the Rat is the right bowl for them.