MAC Bowl Tie-Ins, Affiliations
The top-ranked MAC champion will be in the mix for the Cotton Bowl if it’s the highest-ranked Group of Five champ – and if it’s not in the College Football Playoff.

The MAC doesn’t have a true pecking order. The bowls matchups are based on best possible games and geography.

– Bahamas Bowl vs Conference USA (Dec 16)
– Camellia Bowl vs American Athletic or Sun Belt (Dec. 27)
– Famous Idaho Potato Bowl vs Mountain West (Dec. 20)
– LendingTree Bowl vs Sun Belt (Dec. 17)
– Barstool Arizona Bowl vs Mountain West (Dec. 30)
– Quick Lane Bowl vs Big Ten (Dec. 26)

To be determined among the Group of Five conferences. MAC will get spots in two of these bowls …

– Cure Bowl vs Group of Five or Army (Dec. 16)
– Myrtle Beach Bowl vs American Athletic or Sun Belt (Dec. 19)
– New Mexico Bowl vs Conference USA (Dec. 17)
– RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl vs Group of Five (Dec. 20)
– Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl vs Group of Five (Dec. 17)

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End of Regular Season - Ohio is 9-3 (7-1)

CollegeFootballNews.com - Arizona Bowl vs San Diego State

CBS Jerry Palm - Arizona Bowl vs San Jose State

Brett McMurphy - Myrtle Beach Bowl vs South Alabama

Erick Smith USA TODAY - Quick Lane Bowl vs Liberty

24/7 Sports - Lending Tree Bowl vs Marshall

College Sports Madness - Famous Idaho Potato Bowl vs Wyoming

Profootballnetwork.com - Cure Bowl vs Coastal Carolina

The Sporting News - Camellia Bowl vs Coastal Carolina

Sports Illustrated - Famous Idaho Potato Bowl vs Wyoming

Athlon Sports - Arizona Bowl vs Fresno State

Yahoo Sports - Arizona Bowl vs San Diego State

The Athletic - Camellia Bowl vs UTSA

ESPN Bonagura - Quick Lane Bowl vs BYU

ESPN Schlabach - Quick Lane Bowl vs Marshall

Or the NCAA could do what it did last year and create an extra bowl game or two so that all six-win teams play in a bowl. It was the NCAA's version of a participation trophy.

After PSU/Wk 2

CollegeFootballNews.com - Camellia Bowl vs Coastal Carolina (Dec 27) Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, AL

CBS Jerry Palm - LendingTree Bowl vs Georgia State (Dec 17) Mobile, Ala.

Brett McMurphy - Arizona Bowl vs Fresno State Dec. 30 Tucson, AZ

Erick Smith USA TODAY - No Bowl

Richard Johnson SI - No Bowl

ESPN Bonagura - Myrtle Beach Bowl vs Florida Atlantic (Dec 19) Brooks Stadium (Conway, South Carolina)

ESPN Schlabach - Camellia Bowl vs Marshall (Dec 27) Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, AL

We're the team that beat the team that beat Notre Dame!

This match-up would definitely turn the brain of the Herd fan to turd if it were to occur--and after their upset, who could blame them for the smackdown of having to play a MAC team!

After ISU/Wk 3

CollegeFootballNews.com - Camellia Bowl vs Coastal Carolina Dec 27) Cramton Bowl, Montgomery, AL

CBS Jerry Palm - No Bowl

Brett McMurphy - No Bowl

Erick Smith USA TODAY - Cure Bowl vs Troy Dec 16 Orlando (This would be an upgrade from the normal Mac bowl slate)

24/7 Sports - Lending Tree Bowl vs Georgia Southern Dec 27 Independence Stadium, Shreveport, LA

College Sports Madness - Boca Raton Bowl vs San Jose State Dec 20, Boca Raton, FL

The Sporting News - Bahamas Bowl vs North Texas, Dec 16 Bahamas

ESPN Bonagura - Myrtle Beach Bowl vs Florida Atlantic (Dec 19) Brooks Stadium (Conway, South Carolina)

ESPN Schlabach - No Bowl

I'll wait until after the Kent game to make my travel plans for a bowl game.

If you were smart you'd wait until the location/date/time of said bowl game was actually determined.

Now that more pundits than not have Ohio going to a bowl and Trevor is posting weekly updates I am nostalgic for those halcyon days before the pandemic when Ohio was bowl eligible every single year for well over a decade and I was keeping track of how many teams might be bowl eligible from Teamrankings. Teamrankings gives Ohio a 56% chance to win 6 or more games and become bowl eligible.

I count 39 FBS regular bowl games, 2 playoff semi-final bowl games (before a national championship game which doesn't provide 2 extra bowl slots), and 1 FCS bowl game. If I counted right that means 82 FBS teams will play in the postseason. Teamrankings percentages sum to 80 right now. That means a 5-7 team or two with a high graduation rate might play in a bowl. But if I remember the rules James Madision would become the first team to get to fill in if there are not enough eligible teams. This leads me to a seemingly ridiculous possibility. If James Madison is the highest ranked G5 team and they become eligible this way are the suddenly eligible to play in a NY6 bowl? Cincinnati is the only G5 team ranked ahead of them right now. They are eligible for votes in the AP and AFCA poll. Would they even be eligible for votes in the playoff committee poll?

Clemson 6-0 100.0%
Ohio State 6-0 100.0%
Michigan 6-0 100.0%
USC 6-0 100.0%
UCLA 6-0 100.0%
Georgia 6-0 100.0%
Alabama 6-0 100.0%
Mississippi 6-0 100.0%
Coastal Car 6-0 100.0%
Tennessee 5-0 100.0%
Liberty 5-1 100.0%
San Jose St 4-1 100.0%
Miss State 5-1 100.0%
Cincinnati 5-1 99.9%
NC State 5-1 99.9%
Penn State 5-0 99.9%
Oregon 5-1 99.9%
Utah 4-2 99.9%
Central FL 4-1 99.8%
TX-San Ant 4-2 99.8%
Wake Forest 5-1 99.7%
Minnesota 4-1 99.7%
N Carolina 5-1 99.6%
Oklahoma St 5-0 99.6%
Toledo 4-2 99.4%
Tulane 5-1 99.3%
Texas 4-2 99.2%
TX Christian 5-0 99.2%
Illinois 5-1 99.2%
Washington 4-2 99.2%
S Alabama 4-1 99.2%
Air Force 4-2 99.1%
Purdue 4-2 99.0%
BYU 4-2 98.8%
Boise State 4-2 98.7%
Syracuse 5-0 98.6%
Notre Dame 3-2 98.4%
Troy 4-2 98.1%
UAB 3-2 97.4%
Maryland 4-2 97.1%
Florida St 4-2 97.0%
Kansas St 5-1 96.0%
Oregon St 4-2 95.4%
Memphis 4-2 93.8%
App State 3-3 93.6%
W Kentucky 3-3 93.3%
UNLV 4-2 93.0%
Wyoming 4-3 91.3%
Middle Tenn 3-3 91.2%
Houston 3-3 91.0%
Pittsburgh 4-2 90.0%
Miami (OH) 3-3 88.4%
Texas A&M 3-3 88.1%
Wash State 4-2 87.9%
LSU 4-2 86.9%
Marshall 3-2 86.6%
Kentucky 4-2 85.3%
Buffalo 3-3 84.5%
Kansas 5-1 84.3%
S Carolina 4-2 82.5%
E Michigan 4-2 81.3%
Baylor 3-2 81.1%
Rice 3-2 80.1%
Florida 4-2 79.4%
S Methodist 2-3 79.1%
Wisconsin 3-3 75.9%
Miami (FL) 2-3 75.7%
Duke 4-2 70.9%
Arkansas 3-3 65.2%
Kent State 2-4 64.7%
S Mississippi 2-3 62.5%
Texas Tech 3-3 60.8%
Oklahoma 3-3 58.9%
E Carolina 3-3 58.5%
Iowa 3-3 57.3%
Fresno St 1-4 56.7%
Ohio 3-3 56.2%
North Texas 3-3 52.2%
San Diego St 3-3 52.0%
Louisville 3-3 51.9%
Ball State 3-3 51.9%
Army 1-4 48.3%
GA Southern 3-3 47.5%
Central Mich 1-5 45.2%
Fla Atlantic 2-4 43.1%
California 3-2 42.7%
Iowa State 3-3 42.5%
Arkansas St 2-4 37.7%
LA Lafayette 2-3 36.6%
LA Tech 2-3 35.0%
Arizona St 2-4 34.1%
Utah State 2-4 33.1%
W Virginia 2-3 31.9%
Missouri 2-4 29.8%
Texas State 3-3 27.9%
Michigan St 2-4 24.4%
TX El Paso 3-4 22.4%
New Mexico 2-4 21.3%
Auburn 3-3 21.2%
W Michigan 2-4 19.2%
N Illinois 1-5 19.0%
Georgia State 2-4 18.0%
Virginia 2-4 15.4%
Connecticut 3-4 15.3%
Tulsa 2-4 14.6%
GA Tech 3-3 14.3%
Navy 2-3 13.4%
Old Dominion 2-3 10.9%
VA Tech 2-4 10.5%
Rutgers 3-3 10.4%
Indiana 3-3 9.1%
Nebraska 3-3 8.2%
Bowling Grn 2-4 7.2%
Nevada 2-4 6.4%
Stanford 1-4 4.8%
LA Monroe 2-4 4.8%
Vanderbilt 3-3 4.5%
Arizona 3-3 4.2%
Temple 2-3 2.9%
Boston Col 2-4 2.6%
Colorado St 1-4 1.7%
S Florida 1-5 0.8%
Charlotte 1-5 0.2%
Florida Intl 2-3 0.2%
Hawaii 1-5 0.2%
U Mass 1-5 0.1%
Akron 1-5 0.1%
Northwestern 1-5 0.0%
N Mex State 1-5 0.0%
Colorado 0-5 0.0%
James Mad 5-0 0.0% <transistion ineligible

SUM 79.9

I am aware of that. I marked them as such. But there used to be a series of six rules if not enough teams became fully eligible that went something like this:

1. 6-6 teams using an FCS win to get to 6 wins for the second straight season.
2. 6-7 teams that lost their conference championship game.
3. 6-7 teams that played 13 games for some other reason such as playing at Hawaii
4. 6-6 teams using two FCS wins
5. transition teams with winning records
6. 5-7 teams ranked by APR

I last saw this about 6 years ago and I don't know if that was the EXACT order of the 6 rules and I am not sure that the order made sense even in the NCAA's eyes even though the NCAA made them. If I recall both times rule 2 applied to a team they were granted a waiver to be fully eligible. And if in normal circumstances a transition team can't play even if they are unbeaten then why is that if they could play sometimes under weird circumstances? I tried to google this and the best I found was a wikipedia article.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowl_eligibility

This is what that says:

1. Teams which would have met the eligibility criteria if not for the fact that they had one win against an FCS team that did not meet the scholarship requirement and no waiver was granted.
2. Teams which played 13 games during the regular season and finished with a 6–7 record.
3. Teams in their second year of reclassification from FCS to FBS football.
4. Teams with at least 5 wins and no more than 7 losses, in order of their Academic Progress Rates.

Just because it is on wikipedia doesn't mean that it is fully updated. The NCAA may have further altered this recently and nobody who helps maintain that page knows. If I am not mistaken a team is usually fully eligible play in the post-season in their second year playing in the FBS. If I recall teams usually play their first transition year in the FCS. I know their used to be some options in that regard. In James Madison's case they were not invited to the Sunbelt until about a year ago and this may be their first transition year so they may not be eligible under any circumstance this year even if those rules from wikipedia are still correct. But I would be wrong to claim that I have understanding of what exactly the rules are and what applies here.

That's a very good point. There is probably no mechanism which could cause that to happen.

Thanks. So the situation is that they are playing their first transition year in FBS because they moved up on a short schedule. None on the rules on replacement teams could apply to them unless they are granted a waiver.

Very interesting research and analysis. I have one question: Under what circumstances can a team play 13 games now in the regular season, exclusive of conference playoffs? Years ago, for some strange reason, the NCAA allowed a school to play an extra game if they played a game at Hawai'i. Is that still true. I never understood the rationale for that.

Oh...so the Hawai'i rule is still in effect. Interesting. So what is the rationale for it? Your costs to get to the Rainbow State are so high that you need another "pay game" to pay your expenses?