Peachton.com

(From left to right: Miami, WKU, Ball State)

When it came down to the end, there were 72 bowl eligible schools for 70 spots. AND THE LOSERS ARE: WESTERN KENTUCKY and BALL STATE!

WKU who finished 7-5 and 7-1 in the Sun Belt was denied a bowl-game invitation despite winning six of their last seven games (the loss was to #1 LSU).

Ball State was 6-6. There was not much chance they would beat out BCS teams with similar records.

Miami (Fla.) finished 6-6 but are sitting out of the bowl season as a self-imposed post-season ban due to the impending hammer that will be coming down from the NCAA.

This is sure to tick some folks off.

UCLA filed and was granted a waiver that would make them bowl eligible in the chance they finish the season with a losing record. They are currently 6-6 with the Pac-12 Championship against #9 Oregon to play. Hmm. I wonder if they will finish with a losing record.

Some teams are going to be left out because there are 35 bowls and currently 72 bowl eligible teams (73 with UCLA). UConn can join them if they beat Cincy.

Teams with 6 wins:

Arizona State
Ball State
Florida
Illinois
Iowa State – one more game to play
Marshall
Miami (FL)
Mississippi State
Nevada – one more game to play
Northwestern
Ohio State
Purdue
Texas A&M
Utah State – one more game to play
Vanderbilt
Wake Forest
Winner of Syracuse-Pitt finishes with 6 wins, loser 5.

UConn probably loses to Cincy. Therefore, we should finish with 73 bowl eligible teams and 3 bridesmaids.
I predict these 3 will be: Ball State, Marshall and Nevada. there is a possibility that a 7 win team is excluded from the fun & games. Likely candidates are either Western Kentucky or Western Michigan (both 7-5).

35 Bowls, 70 slots, 54 teams locked in, 16 remain:

LOCKED INTO A BOWL GAME WITH 6 OR MORE WINS & CONFERENCE TIE-IN (54):

.

6 OR MORE WINS BUT NOT NECESSARILY A LOCK (11):

.

6 WINS BUT 2 WINS VS. I-AA SCHOOLS, HENCE INELIGIBLE (so far):

.
STILL NEED 6 I-A WINS:

.
PROBATION, NOT BOWL ELIGIBLE:

.
NOT ENOUGH WINS, INELIGIBLE:

Another week of crazy finishes and wild upsets. A missed field goal doomed Oregon. A late TD finished off Oklahoma.

Oklahoma State saw their first lost at the hands of Iowa State. Clemson inexplicably gets routed by a lower tier ACC team in NC State (6-5).

In Las Vegas, you can bet on almost anything: points scored, who wins the coin flip, halftime score, number of first downs…
I wonder what the odds would be that the Florida State Seminoles would have identical final scores in back-to-back games, not once but twice:

Sat, Sept 24    @ Clemson    L 35-30
Sat, Oct 8    @ Wake Forest    L 35-30
Sat, Oct 15    @ Duke              W 41-16
Sat, Oct 22    vs Maryland    W 41-16

This is going to be a long post so I hope I don’t need a long intro or explanation.
35 Bowls, 70 teams.

LOCKED INTO A BOWL GAME WITH 6 OR MORE WINS & CONFERENCE TIE-IN (42):

.
6 OR MORE WINS BUT NOT NECESSARILY A LOCK:

.
6 WINS BUT 2 WINS VS. I-AA SCHOOLS, HENCE INELIGIBLE (so far):

.
STILL NEED 6 I-A WINS:

.
PROBATION, NOT BOWL ELIGIBLE:

.
NOT ENOUGH WINS, INELIGIBLE:

Stanford and Boise go down HARD.

Wisconsin gives up back-to-back Hail Mary TDs to lose two straight. Clemson lays an egg in Atlanta. Oklahoma loses at home to lowly Texas Tech. Kansas State finally exposed as the pretender they are.

Any team with 3 or more losses is long gone. New to this group are Florida & Tennessee.

It is not out of the question that a 2 loss team can win a National Championship (LSU in 2007) but it is farfetched. Auburn, Texas, Texas Tech, Arizona State, Baylor, Iowa

Alabama: Looking good. Real good.

Auburn: Ugly.

Florida: They still have yet to recover from the thrashing the Tide gave them in 2009 (and 2010 and 2011), made Tebow cry and made Urban have a nervous breakdown.

Georgia: Look at their record and they are not bad. Watch them play a game and they do look bad.

LSU: If I am coaching this team, Jordan Jefferson only plays in garbage time or in case of a Lee injury.

Ole Miss: Do ya’ll remember how excited the Ole Miss fans were when they hired Nutt? He has set the program back another 10 years.

Mississippi State: I am convinced that nobody can win big here. The state doesn’t have the recruits and what you do have you split with Ole Miss. It has to be impossible to convince someone from out of the area to come to Starkville. Mullen should start job hunting.

South Carolina: Spurrier is getting a big helping of karma. Connor Shaw has a big game and he dumps Stephen Garcia. Now it looks like Shaw is just as bad. Additionally, he does not develop any other running backs and now it’s trial by fire.

Tennessee: Vols fans are getting impatient? Already? They need to realize that is going to take some time to undo the mess that Fat Boy and Lame Kitten left in their wakes.

Vanderbilt: It must be sad to think this is what they consider good.

* Arkansas & Kentucky did not play.