THE CURRENT SITUATION:
1) Current record 5-4
2) 3 games remain; next 2 at home against Kent & Ball State both have loosing records and away @ NIU.
3) There are 5 Bowl slots for the MAC; BG, TOL.,WM, & NUI are pretty much locks. The teams in the running for the last slot are Ohio, Buf. & CM.
4) 7-5 final record should win the final bowl game. There could be a tie for the last slot at which point the choice will be up to some committee that represents that last bowl game. I would think that Ohio would have an advantage based on the number of recent bowl appearances and having Solich.
5) Each team has about the same level of difficulty in their remaining schedule. However, CM does have 2 of their last 3 games on the road.
6) Even though I have WM as a lock I do have to mention that they have the toughest schedule; BG, @ NIU & @ TOL. If they were to loose these last 3 they would probably be out of bowl consideration at 6-6. That would open another slot for the 3 teams currently vying for the last bowl game.

CONCLUSION:
I believe that Ohio can still control it's own destiny to get to a bowl game. If accomplished then we will have something to cheer about.


GO BOBCATS ...... MAKE BOBCAT NATION PROUD

I would love to see them finish strong and get a bowl game where we can get Poling, Papi, JJ, BB, Vick and the cheerleader guy healthy and focused.

Another way to look at it: There are 80 bowl slots, but right now only 76 teams (including Ohio) are at .500 or better. That means at least four teams have to play better in their last three games or so than they have up to now just to have all the slots filled with .500+ teams. If Ohio gets bowl eligible, there's a very good chance that we'll land in a bowl somewhere; 7-5 might nearly make us a lock. Right now it looks like about six conference slots and Army's slot will be open. I expect we'll see some 5-7 teams in bowls this year.

Alan,
I answered your question in my post. I felt Ohio would get the nod due to recent history of bowl appearances and having Solich as the coach.

I thank some others for bringing to my attention my typo on the 7-4 record which should have read 7-5.



GO BOBCATS

What if they had a bowl between the worst two teams in FBS. Loser gets booted down to FCS.

I want a relegation bowl. I'd enjoy it more than any playoff system.

Sounds like one of the line ups for an Ancient Roman gladiator card.

Wouldn't it be something if Frank was able to win the next two weeks at home against MAC schools with losing records and then go into a bowl game with all his guys back and be too much to handle for a lowly CUSA team. Finish 8-5 after flushing the conference race down the toilet.

Just looking at the bowls that might have open slots. Based on this week's CFP rankings, there would be two SEC teams in the playoff, one B10 and one ACC. Plus at the moment, one AAC team could have an access bowl slot and MichSt might have an at-large slot. Adding these to their other bowl slots, and based on the number of .500+ teams currently in each conference, these conferences would be short of filling their bowl commitments: AAC (1), ACC (2), B10 (2), B12 (2), CUSA (2), and Sun Belt (1). Plus, Army's slot will be open. That's a total of 11 openings. Based on bowl info from Wikipedia, the follow bowl slots could be open:

Cure Bowl (both slots -- AAC and Sun Belt)
Quick Lane (both slots -- ACC and B10)
Independence (ACC slot vs SEC)
Heart of Dallas (B12 slot vs CUSA)
Cactus Bowl (B12 slot vs Pac12)
Armed Forces Bowl (B10 slot vs MWC)
New Orleans Bowl (CUSA slot vs Sun Belt)
Arizona Bowl (CUSA slot vs MWC)
Poinsettia Bowl (Army slot vs MWC)

Also, the following conferences have more .500+ teams at the moment than bowl commitments: MAC (+2), MWC (+2), Pac12 (+3)