Phil Steele now has Texas State against Houston in that bowl game which probably is more likely with the location.

You're right. Got my info from a website that his since changed the lineup. AAC has five instead of six; SEC has ten instead of nine.

I'm thinking Temps will get a bowl somewhere if they win Saturday -- so long as they promise that Bill Cosby won't make the trip.

The penultimate CFP rankings would have Alabama, Oregon, TCU, and FSU in the playoff and osu, Baylor, Arizona, Michigan State, Kansas State, Miss State, Ga Tech, and Boise State in the Access Bowls.

If that holds, (I think) total bowl slots/eligible teams would be:
AAC.........= 5 / 5 - Even, with Temple pending
ACC+ND..= 11/12 - One team too many (Pitt is last team in)
Big 12.....= 8 / 6 - Two open tie-ins, with Okie Light pending
B1G........= 10/10 - Even
CUSA......= 5 / 7 - Two teams too many (but UAB is RIP, so it's probably just MTSU)
MAC........= 5 / 6 - One team too many (probably us)
MWC.......= 7 / 7 - Even, assuming Fresno loses but gets a waiver at 6-7
PAC12.....= 8 / 8 - Even
SEC........= 11/12 - One team too many (Tennessee is last team in)
SunBelt...= 3 / 4 - One team too many (So. Ala. last team in, but Ga Southern is trying to get a waiver)
BYU........= 1 / 1 - Even
Army......= 1 / 0 - Big 12 is the backup, but is already short. B1G might be the backup if Big 12 can't fill it; the conferences alternate who is backup.
Navy......= 1 / 1 - Even


We get in if the MAC gets a 6th bid to open up. We have 2 shots:
#1 Fresno beats Boise State and NIU gets the G5 access bowl slot; or
#2 Wisconsin beats osu to get into the top 10 but not so bad to knock osu out, so that an extra B1G slot opens up the Detroit bowl.

As an at-large, the P5 teams will get the first bite, so we are probably looking at 3 or 4 teams competing for one slot. I think we really need Temple to lose (3.5 point favorites per Vegas). It's a coin toss between us, MTSU, and So. Alabama.....if it's an ESPN-owned bowl maybe the pressure is there for us to be the pick.

EDIT: Spacing

11 ACC (12)- Florida State, *Georgia Tech
10 SEC (12)- Alabama, *Miss St,
10 B-Ten (10)- Ohio St, *Michigan St
8 CUSA (6)-
7 PAC-12 (8)- Oregon, *Arizona
7 B-XII (6)- TCU, *Baylor, *Kansas St
5 MWC (7)- *Boise St
5 MAC (6)-
5 AAC (5)-
3 SBC (4)-
3 Indy (2)-

Favored for 6-6
AAC (Temple)

Extra Schools
SEC (1)
MWC (1)
MAC (1)
SBC (1)

Openings
B-XII (3)
CUSA (2)
B-Ten (1)

Bowl Pairings
Liberty (Memphis vs. Arkansas)
Cactus (Tennessee vs. Stanford)
New Mexico (Ohio vs. Nevada)
Heart of Dallas (Texas St vs. Fresno St)

The B-XII has another opening this week. What that means is that Memphis will turn up in the Liberty Bowl and Temple will turn up in one of the 5 AAC bowls if they make 6-6. Fresno State then in the Heart of Dallas Bowl. New Mexico Bowl to back up CUSA sounds most likely for Ohio. I have UAB in a bowl at this point in the calculations. Georgia Southern was denied a wavier from the NCAA so they are off the table.

New Orleans, New Mexico, Boca Raton, Bahamas, Hawaii, Heart of Dallas (#4), St. Petersburg, Armed Forces (#3)

http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/bowl_games_bowl_schedu...

Well, three bowl slots are taken. South Alabama to the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl, Lousiana-Lafayette to the R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl and Arkansas State to the GoDaddy Bowl.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/11971980/l...

Tenfinity is prepping one of its 6-6 teams (probably Illinois) for the possibility of staying home this bowl season. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2014/12/04/big.../

ECU had probably the worst two minutes of clock management and decision-making in college football this season, and certainly the worst 10 seconds of defense. If they had run a play on first down instead of taking a knee, that would've killed another four or five seconds. Then on fourth down, the QB gave himself up on a sack instead of chucking the ball out of the end zone, which not only made the field about ten yards shorter for UCF but also gave them an extra three or four seconds. And the DB who came up from the goal line to play the ball instead of the receiver on the last play really lost it for them. There were two other defenders going for the ball, so he wasn't needed.

Marshall came from behind with 10 unanswered points in Q4 to beat La. Tech 26-23, which pretty much assures that NIU is out of the Access Bowl. It looks to me like Ohio stays home, but we'll see what happens next week.

Its this year's equivalent of a BCS bowl from years past: NYE or January 1st, teams assigned by the playoff selection committee, big money. Specifically the four bowls among the Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Fiesta, and Peach that are NOT hosting playoff games.

Eh, I don't know. NIU is a known G5 commodity that dominated its conference championship game. Marshall has been absent on the national scene for a decade, and in the last 3 weeks has (a) almost lost to a team that doesn't exist anymore, (b) lost despite scoring 66 points, and (c) struggled to beat a team that lost to an FCS team this season.

The committee has already shown a willingness to put a 2 loss G5 team ahead of an undefeated Marshall. Plus, Oliver Luck is a meanie who won't let Marshall have nice things. Dollars rule, butts in the seats and eyes on TV matter, and Chicago vs. Huntington is an easy tiebreaker.

Not saying it will happen, but it wouldn't shock me.

So can e know officially call this election?